Grand Theft Auto: Nerima
by Wolfgang Krauser
Summary: Ranma gets chased out of town, but after two years of burying his past mistakes, he gets some information concerning Akane and he has to come back. The big wigs running the show from Liberty City don't take kindly to his return.
1. Welcome to the Jungle

Welcome To The Jungle

In two years a place can change a lot while you're gone. A clear blue sky can turn into a smog-infested cloud and the sun can be replaced with neon lights advertising cheap sex. Things had gone bad two years back and it was all Ranma's fault. Instead of dealing with his problems, he ran away to a place where the people wouldn't judge him for what he'd done. To a place where no one knew him. A place where honor was overrated. Behind he left Akane, and every one else that was once important to him, but after he got some news about Akane, he had to come back and he wasn't expecting a warm welcome. He stepped out of the taxi in front of what used to be the Tendo Dojo, and pushed the gate open. Every thing was run-down and the building was half burnt to the ground. It was obviously vacant, but he let himself in anyways for a look around, but as he did all the old memories came back to him. He sat on the floor in the now empty dinning room staring out at the dried up koi pond now remembering every last word said that night. It haunted him in a sense, but he had buried the past once already, so it wouldn't be hard a second time.

Every one was just going about their lives as normal that day. Kasumi was cleaning, Nabiki studying, Soun and Genma playing shogi. It was nothing new and Ranma was probably going to be hit by Akane pretty soon, but something much bigger happened. They had a visitor dressed in a black suit asking for Mr. Tendo and when he came to the door, he had a look of fright on his face. The guy in the suit pushed him up against a wall and put a gun to his head, asking when he was going to return to money he had owed. When Soun said, "You promised you wouldn't come here!" things started clicking in. It was no secret that Soun had a gambling problem and in turn, it was the reason why Nabiki conned so many people out of their money. She was buying groceries with it. The truth was revealed that day and every thing went downhill from that. When you find out that your father gambled away your education fund and drank away his sorrows, one tends to lose faith in him. Akane did so and cried that night, it was too much for Ranma, and just when he shouldn't have stuck his nose in other people's business, he went to go solve the problem alone.

Like the dumb kid he was, he busted into the office Soun had gotten a loan from and started trashing the place. He knocked out guards that got a good look at him first hand, and he was all over the surveillance system. If that wasn't bad enough he left a note on the wall telling them to leave the Tendo family alone. What Ranma didn't realize was that he was now playing with the local mob based out of a place called Liberty City in the U.S. When word reached the head honcho that his new setup in Nemira was going under already and because of a kid no less, he became both angry and embarrassed. Two weeks went by along with Ranma feeling his victory assured and solving the family problems on his own. It wasn't until he got home after school one day, that the fire department was parked outside the Tendo Dojo. The flames had been put out, but the smoke still rose from the burnt out shell. He panicked when he saw Kasumi on a gurney with a mask and bandage over her face, being put into the back of an ambulance. Soun was pushed out of the back of it as he wailed and fell to his knees. Akane held onto Ranma tight as she stared at the house with him. He had to ask what happened, and the response wasn't pretty. As it turned out, those people Soun had borrowed money from, had grown a little impatient and angry with him.

Another week went by as the guilt built up in him. They were all living in a small apartment, while Genma had the spill the bean about the curse to his wife. It was a real train wreck week and it didn't seem like it was letting up any time soon. He was scared now, because he knew that they were after him. Towards the end of the week he got a call from Shampoo screaming at him, calling his all sorts of things in broken speech. He listened on as the phone was grabbed from her and Cologne came on the line. She was frantic as well, but at least understandable. She had just been tossed out of her restaurant at gunpoint, with the words, "You can thank Ranma Soatome for this." to go by. Within the same day the Kuno fortune was taken straight from the vault at the bank leaving some prince and princess now poppers. It didn't let up even then. Another phone call came in for Ranma and it was Ukyo at the police station. There was a ton of drugs found in her shop and she was being framed for drug trafficking. It was becoming clear that people weren't asking question, and cops were doing things they should be preventing. Another three days went on with all eyes on him and in that time, Kasumi had flat-lined once in the hospital, but was able to be revived in time. Things were getting out of hand, no one trusted any one any more, and it now all centered on Ranma and his horrible gut decision. On the third day, he was run out of town by every body, including his mother and fiancé.

He ended up running to Kyoto, where he laid low for a while, but after some time he needed to work, and when he did, he worked as some dumb muscle for the wrong people, who taught him all the wrong things. Two years later, there was a knock on his apartment door and to his surprise; it was the one person, seemingly unaffected by his actions. Ryouga Hibiki. He answered the door a bit scruffy and unshowered with a white tank top and yesterdays jeans on. He skipped the formalities and gave Ryouga a lazy look. "What do you want?"

Ryouga answered by pulling back his fist and hitting Ranma square in the nose. He flew back, hit the ground and knocked over the table. He sat up and wiped the blood from his face as he stared up at Ryouga. "I take it you're mad at me."

Ryouga cracked his knuckles and walked in, closing the door behind him. "I've always been mad at you, Ranma. It took me forever to find you, you know?"

Ranma pulled himself up and leaned against the wall. "Yeah what else is new? I hope hitting me wasn't the only reason you came."

"That was only half the reason I came. I'm here to tell you something."

"You could have called."

"You think I'm stupid? I checked for that. You don't have a phone."

Ranma crossed his arms and tilted his head. "I guess that's why mom never calls."

"You don't have to be a smart ass, she's worried about you."

"I'm sure she is, now what did you come here to tell me?"

Ryouga looked down with a look of shame in his eyes. "It's about Akane…" Ranma opened his ears and waited for it. "She's gone missing…"

Ranma's eye twitched and his face became angry. "…Is she dead?"

Ryouga shook his head and sat on a milk crate Ranma had set up as a chair. "I'm not sure… I've been looking for her for a month now, but… Look, I'm really worried about her… You probably don't care any more, but I need help finding her…"

Ranma just kept an eye on him from his wall and said, "Last I heard, you two were going out… You wasted no time as soon as I was gone, did you?"

Ryouga got up and pointed a finger at Ranma. "You shut the hell up! You don't know anything do you?"

"Look, as far as I see it, things are over between us. I couldn't be there for her when she needed me and I still can't be there for her. What the fuck do you want me to do here? I know I fucked every thing up; I can't change that no matter what I do. She's your girl now, so you take care of her."

Ryouga waited as he did his best to calm down. "She isn't my girl anymore…"

"Doesn't change a thing."

"Are you really this big of an idiot Ranma? You know why I lost her? It's because she wanted you! You! You! You! I was the one there for her! I was the one to see her through it! You ran away! But she still wanted you!"

Ranma looked down and twitched his face. "Why the hell would she want me? What's wrong with you?"

Ryouga took a deep breath and looked ready to cry. "…I cheated on her…"

Ranma raised his eyebrows. "And you think 'I'm' an idiot?"

"God damnit Ranma… Don't you even realize what happened?"

"I'm not one for current events these days. I just do what I need to do to get by."

"Those thugs… Those guys that burned the house down… They took over the town. They built factories, started pushing drugs on the streets, brought in prostitutes, the whole nine yards. The place is an absolute mess… It's not the Nerima you remember…"

"And what do you what me to do about it? Huh? I can't change that, I'm just one guy."

"You're misunderstanding Ranma… I'm saying that it's not safe for her there. I need help finding her, but I just can't on my own. I don't give two shits about that town and I never did, it was the people that lived there I loved. Akane's missing, there's junkies and dealers on every street corner and every one we know can't get out of there on their own. I hate you more then anything in this world, so I wouldn't be here now if I wasn't desperate. Just help me will ya?"

Ranma stood in silence for a few moments before uncrossing his arms and grabbing his jean jacket. "Fine. You win, but as soon as we find Akane, I'm out of there and out of her life for good."

Ryouga stood up and followed Ranma out the door. "Fine by me."

Ryouga followed Ranma to the bottom floor of the building and into a parking lot. He walked over to a taxi parked in a stall and opened the door. He unlocked the passenger side and let Ryouga in. "You drive a taxi?"

"No."

Ryouga was about to say something but then he noticed Ranma fiddling with a knife under the steering wheel. "Then whose car is this?"

"Not sure." The car fired up and Ranma started backing up.

Ryouga looked at him with a shocked expression. "Are we stealing a car?"

"That's the idea."

"What ever happened to honor?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders as he turned out onto the road. "I don't give a rats ass about honor any more. It's just not my thing."

"I do!"

"Then look at it this way. I stole the car and you're my hostage."

"But-!"

Ranma ignored him by turning up the stereo while turning off onto the highway and flooring it. Ryouga couldn't help but look around nervously for cops that may either be following or coming.

Ryouga walked up behind Ranma and looked out into the back yard with him. After staring off into the light blanket of poisons' fog Ranma had to ask. "So, where is every body? How many of them have left?"

Ryouga sighed as he picked up a broken clock and gave it a shake to see if it still worked. "Every one's still here. They're all scattered around the town, living on their own for the most part."

Ranma looked up at a picture that survived the fire and these past two years. It was from when they had met Prince Toma on that floating island, with pretty much every one he used to know on there. He couldn't help but think how easy life was back then. "Even the Amazons?"

Ryouga nodded as he stuck he hands in his pockets and kicked some dirt on the floor. "Yup. They couldn't get out of here in time. For some people this city is like a prison, if you're seen as a threat or a liability then they keep an eye on you and hold you in so you don't do anything foolish. There are a lot of bad guys out there now. It's not like back then when we could fight with our fists and come out with scraped knees. I put away that umbrella a while ago and replaced it with a gun… I don't think I'll ever fire it, but around here it's the only way you can get some respect. The sooner we get Akane out of here, the sooner I can leave and rest easy."

"Who'd you cheat on her with?"

Ryouga got a scowl on his face as he decided whether or not to tell him. "…Ukyo."

"Figures."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"It just means I saw it coming. Anyways, who have you asked about Akane and where are they?"

Ryouga scratched his head and thought back. "I asked Mr. Tendo and Kasumi in the downtown apartment blocks, but I don't know where Nabiki is, she may have found a way out and ditched every one. The Amazons got muscled down to the poor end of town, but they haven't heard from her in a while either."

"My parents?"

"They're in the same apartment block as Mr. Tendo, but it's hard to talk to them. They usually don't answer the door." Ranma sat in silence for a few moments before Ryouga asked him. "You want to see them don't you?"

Ranma nodded with lazy eyes. "It would be nice, but the real question is, would they want to see me?"

"Your mom misses you a lot, your dad thinks you're a disgrace."

"I don't exactly care what he thinks, in truth I'd rather take a baseball bat to his face before even thinking about talking to him."

"Yeah, I kinda guessed so. Got any ideas where to find Akane?"

Ranma crossed his arms and got up. "Haven't got a clue, but I might know some one who would."

Ranma walked out the door with Ryouga behind him. "Who?"

They both opened the doors to the stolen cab and got in. "His name is Paul. The slimiest fucker you'll ever meet. He's been all over the place and now he's here teaching English or something to get out of tax fraud in the U.S."

"Why would he know anything about Akane?"

"Not so much Akane, but this shit hole of a city. Every where he's ever gone he's managed to shove his nose so far up the cities ass that when he sneezes, a mass combination of shit and crack comes flying out. He's one of those guys that likes to think he runs the show."

"So we're getting information from him?"

"No, 'I'm' getting information from him. I'm gonna need this guy under my thumb as soon as possible and if you're there yelling and screaming, I can't get that."

"So what are you going to do, that I can't?"

"You'll see."

Ranma parked the car outside of the Furikan High school and got out. Ryouga look at it in wonder. "What the heck are we doing here?"

"I told you, he's teaching English."

"Oh…"

The two walked in and just outside the door to the classroom Ranma put a hand on Ryouga's shoulder. "Just wait here and don't move, ok?"

Ryouga put his hands up in front of him and scrunched his face. "What? Why are you so hell bent that I don't come in?"

Ranma sighed. "Never mind… Just don't say any thing…" He opened the door and walked in on an after school tutoring session.

"Now look er' luv. If you want those grades, you're gunna haft to do your teacher a few favors, you know what I mean, sweat cheeks?"

The schoolgirl gave him a worried look. "Umm… not really…"

"Right, why don't we just slip in the back ere' and… Oh, fuck me no." Paul had just noticed Ranma standing there with a frown on his face. "You! What the fuck are you doing ere' ya fucking tosser?"

Ranma place himself between the girl and Paul. "Get lost kid." The girl nodded and went home to her mother. Ranma looked back at Paul and shook his head. "What am I going do with you Paul? You can't find a bitch stupid enough to fuck you, so you start coming after a bunch of naive kids?"

"Hey! It's not what it looks like. I got me self a girl over on seventh street these days."

"Those are called hookers dip shit, now start telling me thing I want to know, or I'll rip your fucking nuts off."

"No need to get testy with me, besides why should I tell you any thing? You've caused me nothing but grief ever since I came here."

"How about this…" Ranma kicked the chair Paul was sitting on and grabbed the back of his head. His chin hit the desk and Ranma picked up a protractor off the desk. He then lifted Paul's unwilling left hand to the desk and put a knee on it. "Spread your hand Paul, or this might hurt…" A muffled scream came out as Paul spread out his fingers wide. Ranma tapped the empty space between Paul's thumb and index finger, and then the empty space between the middle and index finger. He came back slowly to the first point he hit and started hitting the spaces in a counter clockwise motion, until he had to come back. "I think you get the idea, eh Paul? Now here's the game. I'm going to start throwing out names and you're gonna tell me where they are, or where they might be. Every time I hear an answer I don't like, the speed of my stabs will increase and my accuracy with lower. Every time I think you're lying to me, the speed will once again increase. Now, nothing will decrease the speed so you better talk fast and it sure as shit better be clear, now lets begin." Ranma started off pretty fast letting Paul stare at his hand and letting the idea sink in that it can be faster.

"You crazy fucker! What do you want to know?"

"Akane Tendo. Do you know her and where is she?"

"I don't know er'! Get offa me ya fucking nancy!"

"I don't like the sound of that Paul." Ranma started jabbing faster leaving the quick sounds of wood being stabbed behind.

Paul's eyes went wide. "Fuck me! Wait! I may av heard the name once, but that's it!"

Ranma looked away from his work and increased the speed once again. "Does that mean you were lying? I thought I told you not to lie."

"I'm not lying! I know her sister, that's all!"

"She has two. Which one and what's your relationship with her?"

"Fuck off, that's private mate!"

"You're pissing me off now Paul." Ranma went into a super sonic speed, which was now the slow form of the chestnut fist.

"Ok! Ok! She's that bird I met down on seventh! Nabiki!"

"Oooo. That was another thing I didn't like, you better tell me something nice real quick."

"Fuck man! What do you want to know?"

"Who's in charge of this city? Who's the guy to talk to if you want weapons and drugs?"

"I think his name was Garino or something! Let me go!"

Ranma shook his head. "You 'think' his name is Garino? You better be pretty sure his name is Garino!" He once again increased the speed making little bits of wood start shooting off of the desk.

"And where would I find this so-called Garino?"

"Fuck! He owns a fucking mansion over in the high end of town! It used to belong to a lanky fucker named Kuno!"

"The Kuno estate eh? You're doing pretty good now big guy. Two more question and you're home free man!"

"Hurry the fuck up and ask them before you take me fucking hand off!"

"Are you giving me lip Paul?" Ranma turned up the volume once again and this time he nicked Paul.

"AHH! No! I'm sorry!"

"Good boy, now is Nabiki a working girl?"

"What do you mean working girl?"

Ranma was starting to get to his top speed and started shaking his head. "Is she a fucking hooker? Is she turning tricks for cash?"

"No! No! She's a peeler mate! She works at the Pole Position strip joint!"

"And her bosses name is?"

"It's fucking Boris or something!"

"What have I told you about unsure names?"

"Boris! His fucking name is Boris! I don't have a fucking last name!"

"And here comes the bonus question Paul, and you better answer it right, or you've got more then a hand to worry about."

"What? What?"

"Did ya fucked her? Did ya fuck Nabiki?"

"I swear on me fucking life, I haven't touched her! You gotta believe me mate! She's too high end for me! I couldn't get near that one!"

Ranma yelled and brought the protractor down one last time smashing the desk into a pile of splinters. Paul fell back and Ranma was over him in a second with the badly bent object to his neck. "Remember this Paul… If I find out you just lied to me… I'll cut out your fucking lungs with your own goddamn teeth. Do I make myself abso-fucking-lutly clear?" Paul nodded quickly with huge eyes. "Good. I'll be seeing you around, mate." He got up and started heading out the door, but paused long enough to give the boy who'd stayed behind for detention. Ranma pointed at him and gave him a cold hard stare. "Stay in school and do your homework, or you'll end up like him." Ranma motioned towards Paul and the kid in his desk just started nodding franticly.

Once Ranma and Ryouga were half way out the door Paul got up with an utterly pissed look on his face. "That's right, walk away, walk away, ya fucking nutter." He then looked at the kid in detention. "What the fuck are you looking at? Get to work you fucking penis!" Once again the kid nodded frantically and started solving the inner workings of the English language at an astonishing rate.

The two were back in the car and Ryouga was glaring at Ranma. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

"This town needs to know I'm back, and he's the perfect person to spread the word."

"Oh, that's fine and all, but since when have you started threatening people's lives? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were like the rest of those thugs out there."

"I'm just setting up a basis Ryouga. Yes, I'm like those thugs out there, but there's one difference and Paul's going to tell every one."

"And that is?"

"I don't work for any one, and I'm a lunatic."

"How does this help us find Akane again?"

Ranma turned on the low beams of the car as he drove into a place where the fog was thinker. "These mob bosses and high rollers like people like that. There's nothing quite like having some hired dumb muscle willing to fill any one full of lead for a price. People like that are reliable and disposable."

"Oh, so it's like handing out your resume?"

"Yup. A foot in the door is what you need in a town like this, and if you don't have one right away, then you do what I just did and force your way in."

"Ok, I guess I can understand that. So are we heading for the strip club?"

"Yeah. I'm going to have a word with Boris."

"What about Nabiki?"

"She doesn't need to know I'm back just yet, Paul will take care of that later. I'm more concerned with her boss right now."

"What's so important about her boss? He's probably just another drug pushing, junkie."

"Come on and think man. Nabiki's a smart girl and I have to admit, I was surprised to hear that she's a stripper these days, but then I thought about it for a second. She's always had a plan and she's probably working for him to get close. I just want to find out the reason and see if it's a good opportunity, or not."

"Opportunity?"

"Yeah, I'm going to need money if I'm out here and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to take longer then it should."

"Are you just going to walk in and give him hell, or something?"

"No… I'm going to introduce myself twice and see who he likes better."

"Twice? You don't mean you're going to…"

"I'll either be stripping, or beating the fuck out of people. It'll only take a few days to find out who he's working for, and if he knows anyone that would know where missing girls end up." Ranma pulled the car over and parked it in a back alley. "Tell me Ryouga… How far will you go to help her?"

"I'll do anything it takes to get her out of here."

"Maybe you don't know what I'm asking you here Ryouga, so I'll put it simply. Are you willing to shoot and kill people to get her out of here?"

"K-kill?"

"Yeah, kill some one. Would you do it?"

"No!"

"Any thing it takes huh?" Ranma crossed his arms and smiled. "Look, I'm to the point where I stopped caring about my well-being a long time ago. I'll be honest with you Ryouga, you're currently sitting next to a murderer."

"What? Who the hell did you kill?"

"A crack dealer, a pimp, some guy that liked to hit women, a sick fuck that molested kids, and a guy too strung out for his own good."

Ryouga stared at Ranma in silence for a while. "What the hell have you been doing Ranma?"

"All sorts of things… I don't kill without a damn good reason, but since we last saw each other, I've developed a bit of a disregard for human life."

"And you want me to be the same?"

"No… I just want to know if you'd shoot some one if you were pinned down and had no other choice. Could you get over it and move on. You'd just be capping the people that turned this town to shit."

"I'm not shooting any one!"

"I'm not going to make you, I'm just saying that if you can't then you may as well butt-out now and leave finding Akane to me. I'm going to start playing with the big boys soon and they play rough. You'll be useless to me unless you can at least shoot some one in the leg."

"I just said I'm not shooting any one!"

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm just saying that it might come to that."

"Why would it come to that Ranma? Honestly?"

"Every thing is up in the air right now Ryouga, and if Akane is in the type of trouble I think she's in, then we are going to end up pissing off a few guys with guns. Out there I can watch my own back, but unless you can watch mine for me, I can't watch yours. We need a certain measure of protection out here, and until I can hook up with some co-workers of mine, we need to be tough, mean, and pretty unpleasant, as you saw with Paul back there. You said it yourself, you put down your umbrella and picked up a gun, well guess what a gun is used for, and here's a hint. You can't make balloon animals out of them."

Ryouga shook his head. "You're crazy man…"

"This coming from the guy who's sticking his neck out for a girl he cheated on. How about this? I'll work as a stripper for a few days. I'll get to know the boss, have a few words with Nabiki, and if I'm still not getting what information I need then I'll call you in. How does that sound?"

"What do you mean, 'call me in.'? What do you want me to do?"

"I'll get to know this Boris guy, get on his good side, and introduce you as my brother, boyfriend, cousin, what ever the hell you want it to be and get you a job as an errand boy."

"What does an errand boy do?"

"At first, you'll be sent around to beat up a few guys from time to time. Maybe drop some of the girls off and bring them back here when they're done. Just brainless work that involves swinging your fists around like a blind monkey desperately trying to defend his banana. He wouldn't dream of having you ice some guy as soon as you start working for him, you might be a cop undercover or something to that degree. Doing this will get us names, places, and things we may need. You can be the biggest, baddest, gun slinging arms dealer in the whole damn city, but still feel the need to get you whistle blown from time to time. I want to know who these people are if I ever need them or their merchandise. You see where I'm going with this?"

"I understand connections, but what about Akane?"

"What about her you ask? She's got a big mouth and a short temper. Probably lipped off the wrong person. Just trust me on what I'm doing here Ryouga. I've seen enough guys and had enough conversations with people that do this sort of thing to know what I'm doing right now."

Ryouga sighed and plopped his head back in the seat. "Fine, but I'm still not shooting any one."

"What ever peels your tangerine… Get out of here, I'll catch up with you later and I'll tell you the game plan."

"I'm not driving this stolen hunk of shit out of here!"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders at Ryouga like he didn't care. "Then walk."

(Authors Note: In case you haven't noticed, the title is a name of a song. I'm giving this fic and official / un-official soundtrack. If for some reason this does not sit well with you, you can review the fic tell me how much you dislike me doing this and allow me to bring my delete button further towards it inevitable demise. If you like the idea then please pay attention to the final caption at the end of each chapter to know who did the song and its proper title if you didn't catch it the first time. Have fun and party hard.)

Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle


	2. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Ranma went out to find some cold water and stopped by a sleazy women's clothing store that was in the area. A black leather mini skirt, matching boots, and a red elastic band that covered her tits later, Ranma was ready for her interview. She looked at herself in the mirror for a few seconds with a smile on her face. "Glad mom isn't here to see this. Gotta admit though, I'm damn sexy."

She opened the stall and headed towards the front to rob the place. The gruff ugly guy at the register was eyeing Ranma up the entire time with a wide smile and would probably be playing with his pecker by now if not for the fact that his fat fingers didn't have the required dexterity to unzip his pants. "So, how ya payin' for this babe?" The way he wiggled his eyebrows after the question seemed to beg Ranma to kick his ass, but she thought she'd play with him first.

Ranma pulled out a folding knife and held it in front of her. "I'm not, and you're handing over all the cash ya fat taco eatin' fuck."

The guy behind the till laughed and let his belly shake as he pulled a gun out from underneath the counter. "Now let's be rational missy. If you didn't have the cash to purchase my merchandise then you should have said so. I'm a reasonable guy and I think we could work something out." He gave Ranma another look up and down with that greasy smile of his.

Ranma gazed at the gun with sly smile. "Hey, I've been looking for one of these." She pushed the gun off to the side with a quick jab and cut the big guys hand causing him to both fire and drop the gun. She snagged it out of the air and pointed the piece right between his eyes. "Cash now or you're not getting any more Crispy Cream donuts."

"H-hey! Watch where you're pointing that thing! Get out of here! You ain't got the rocks to shoot me!"

Ranma went into thought in her head, stuck her lip out and bobbed her head to the side once. "Well, not at the moment." She then pointed the gun down and let a shot go off between his legs. "But I'll blow yours off if you piss me off. This is a robbery, don't turn it into a murder."

The fat guy panicked and pulled a box out from underneath the table. "Good boy, don't forget the VCR now."

"W-what VCR?"

"You know the one recording the events taking place right now? That one."

"I-I don't have a camera in the store…"

"I really hate when people lie to me." Ranma let another bullet fly by the man leaving his sleeve cut open and skin slightly burnt at the shoulder. "I'm going to ask for it one more time, and then I'll become irrational."

The fat man reached down again with wide eyes and pulled up a large black box with wires still connected to it. "Here! Take it you crazy bitch!"

Ranma smiled as she walked out with $2000 cash and a new VCR. Before leaving she turned around with a smile plastered on her face and a gun pointed at the phone he was reaching for. Two shots declared the demise of the phone and ensured her getaway. "I must say, it feels great to be back in the game!" With that said, she headed back to the back alley where she parked the taxi and put her new belongings in the trunk while putting the 9mm in her purse.

After closing the truck she couldn't help but notice her hair in the rear view mirror. "That won't do…" She rummaged around in the cab for the water bottle she had and poured the contents all over her head. She pulled the pigtail apart and started straightening the wet hair until it was smooth and down in the back. It looked like she had just walked out of a shower with her hair being straight and with another look in the mirror she smiled. "Who's a little whore? You are!" She pointed in the mirror and laughed. After she calmed down she opened the door and got out mumbling to herself. "The shit I do for people… I deserve a medal or something…"

She made her way down the street to find the strip joint while perfecting her slut strut. She turned the corner and knocked on the back door waiting for a response. Before any one could answer she crossed her eyes and placed a stupid smile on her face. A big guy answered the door and upon giving her the look down he smiled and said. "Haven't seen you around here before. Looking for work?"

Ranma kept the same stupid look in her eyes and nodded her head. "Yeeeeaaaah. I was told to ask for Burney."

The bouncer smiled down at her and asked. "Do you mean Boris?"

Ranma nodded her head retardedly again. "Oh, yeah! That was it!"

"Right this way Miss." He extended a hand in the door and smacked her ass as she entered. Ranma giggled cutely and gave him a wink, but on the inside she wanted nothing more then to savagely rip his throat out.

She was lead into an office and the doors were closed behind her. She kept the same stupid cross-eyed look and greeted the big hairy guy known as Boris. "Hi! I'm Sheela!"

The big hairy guy had one too many buttons undone on his shirt for Ranma's liking, but if you want to be big greasy pervert who's full of him self, you may as well go all out. He got up from behind his desk and over to 'Sheela' giving her the same inspection every one else had given her. "You're a beautiful little thing aren't you? Have you danced before?" Ranma didn't say much but gave him a big smile and a nod, yes. "How old are you gorgeous?"

Ranma looked away shyly keeping that airhead look on her face. "As old as you want me to be…"

"Are you from around here?"

Ranma gave him another over dramatic head swing signaling no. "No, I'm from way out of town!"

Boris smiled again and put an arm around her shoulder. "You're not too bright are you?"

Ranma giggled again and shook her head again. "Tee Hee! No, not really."

He led her to the dressing room with a big grin on his face. "Perfect."

About an hour later Ranma walked out the back door giving Boris a wave goodbye. "So I'll be starting tomorrow?"

Boris was now sporting a black eye but had the same smile on his face. "Yes, 9 o'clock sharp, and don't worry about the black eye Sheela. You're not the first one to accidentally kick me. I do get a bit rowdy around a pretty girl, just remember that if some guy tries getting up on stage with you, feel free to boot him off."

"Yeah sorry about that… So you want me to bring my man here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I need a tough guy to deal with a few problems… The last guy got wasted, but hey serves em' right. Business is business.

"Thanks B.B. See ya tomorrow." Ranma held the stupid expression until she was out of sight and heading towards her cab. "Grab me will he! Come sit on Santa's lap, he says! What a dirt bag!" She opened up the driver's side door and was stopped before she could get in. She looked up to see three men surrounding her.

"Hey cutie. Want a good time?"

Ranma sighed and rubbed her head. "I'm in a bad mood dip shit. Get lost before you get hurt."

The first guy chuckled a little as his two friends came in near. "Come on miss. We're just being friendly. Won't you help us out?"

Ranma stared the first guy straight in the eyes. "This is your last warning."

A pair of hand crept up behind her and grabbed her breasts. Ranma remained motionless as she shook her head in disappointment. "You boys have just done something very foolish…" She grabbed the hands holding her and twisted them until they broke. The first guy that did all the talking backed away and let the second guy fall victim to Ranma's oncoming wraith. She broke his nose and smacked his head on the hood of the car. The last guy standing pulled out a knife and motioned for her to back off. The warning went ignored and Ranma gave him a quick jab to the face sending him to the ground, but she wasn't finished yet. She pulled him over to the open door of the car, wedged his head in and started slamming the door repeatedly against his head. "DON'T!" SLAM "FUCK!" SLAM "WITH!" SLAM "ME!" SLAM "BITCH!" SLAM She pulled him up and brought his bloody face close to hers. "Now what did you learn?" The guy gurgled a few times but couldn't say anything due to a broken jaw. "Keep your hands to yourself, that's what you damn well learned. If I catch you around here again I'll ram your head up his ass." She pointed to the downed fat guy of the group as the man in her hands looked over and slowly blacked out. She dropped him and got into the car and pulled the seat forward. "Well I certainly feel better now." The car started up and she made her way back to the Tendo Dojo. Along her way there she found Ryouga wandering the street aimlessly. She pulled over and opened the door. "Need a lift?"

Ryouga smiled as he got in but his face dropped when he saw Ranma. "Uhh… What's with the clothes?"

"Shut the hell up… I take it you've been lost for the last hour and a half."

Ryouga went red. "Well…"

"Aw, hell. Don't answer that. Any ways I'm gonna need you sooner then I thought."

Ryouga shook his head and asked unenthusiastically. "What happened?"

"That ass hole wanted me to show him ALL of my talents. I told him I had a boyfriend, so he'd back off."

Ryouga got a bit of a disgusted look on his face. "You didn't have to 'do' anything for him did you?"

"No, I got out of that. I just had to show him my moves."

"Must have been pretty lame."

"It was, but it doesn't matter." Ranma grabbed her tits and pushed them up. "As long as I have these I'm good."

"Watch the road Ranma…"

"Same goes to you, Sparky…"

Ryouga looked away from Ranma and kept his attention to other things. "So, did you find anything out?"

"Yup."

"What?"

"Boris is a dead man the second I'm out of there."

Ryouga sighed. "I meant about Akane…"

Ranma shook her head. "No, not yet. This is only the first day. I got a shift with Nabiki tomorrow, so I'll start sniffing around then, but for now I'm gonna make a few calls and get some damn sleep."

Ryouga checked the clock radio on the car. "It's only eight. Why are you calling it in so early."

"You caught me while I was on vacation."

"Vacation?"

"Yeah. After I pull a big job I go on vacation for a week."

Ryouga looked at Ranma funny. "You call hanging out in your dirty ass apartment all alone a vacation? Wait a minute… What kind of job did you pull?"

Ranma looked at him from the side and put her eyes back on the road. "The kind of job that requires me to lay low for a week while they slowly transfer money into a fake account of mine."

"I see… It still doesn't tell me why you're tired."

"I stay up late on my time off. I went to bed at four in and you knocked on my door at nine. Do the math."

"You could have said something…"

"Who cares? Hey, do you have your own place?"

"What? No. I've been living out of the dojo whenever I find it. Luckily no one turned off the water lines, but there isn't any power in the house."

Ranma rolled that around in her head for a few moments and came to a conclusion. "I guess I'll take care of that before I go to bed tonight… Know any hardware stores that are open right now?"

"No… But I do know about a construction site in the area…"

"I thought you had honor?"

"Well, you're the one doing it, not me, and you're gonna do it no matter what I say, sooo…"

"Good point. Let's roll."

Ryouga was busy tossing equipment into the back of the truck as Ranma hotwired it. "What else?"

Ranma leaned out the window and gave a look into the bed of the truck. "Hmmm… See if you can find any extension cords and maybe a couple of long metal rods. Oh! The foreman's toolbox should be in that portable over there. I'm gonna need some tools too."

Ryouga walked off towards the temporary building and kicked in the door. After looking around he found a large red metal box tucked away under an office desk. "Awesome."

Ranma fired up the old Chevy and started backing up towards Ryouga. "Ok, hop in. I'm pretty sure we've got every thing we'll need."

Ryouga opened the door, stepped up and planted himself in the large bench seat. "Are we just gonna leave the taxi here?"

Ranma hit her head and put the truck in park. "Oh, yeah." She got out and pulled a stick of dynamite out of the back. She opened the doors to the taxi and started spraying WD-40 all over the interior and then lit the fuse followed by running like hell with a metal box and a VCR under her arms. More crap thrown into the box later, Ranma floored it and made off out of the vacant construction site. Behind them a loud explosion was heard as well as a flash of light. "Solves our taxi problem…"

Ryouga was doing exactly what he was earlier that day and looking around frantically for any one following them. "How can you be so calm? Somebody could have seen us!"

"Yeah, your right… Somebody saw a redhead driving a stolen truck, which we are ditching by the way, and a pretty generic white guy with a bandana on his head. I'm sure the fuzz'll be all over us in a matter of seconds, you know after the fire department puts out the flames and they do an investigation and maybe come up with some fingerprints that aren't on file. You worry too much man."

"Is it wrong of me to worry?"

"Right, I sense a good old bitch fest coming on, courtesy of Ryouga McComplainypants."

"What the hell were you thi-"

Ryouga was cut off as Ranma cranked the music and aptly ignored him once again. Ryouga sat with his arms crossed and with a scowl on his face. "Goddamn prick!"

"What?"

"I CALLED YOU A PRICK!"

"Sorry, I can't hear you! The music's too loud!"

Ryouga went into quiet mode as he contemplated on ways to kill Ranma.

Around eleven Ranma was a man again and now stepping off the burnt roof with a spool of wire in his hands. Ryouga was made to carry a few heavy objects as Ranma set them up. "Are you sure this is safe? You're gonna be connecting that to a power line, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I've done this before, look just wait and you'll see this place light up."

"All the bulbs burst in the fire, Ranma…"

"…"

"You knew that, right?"

"Fuck!"

"You didn't know…"

"We'll get some bulbs in the morning. The wiring in the walls is burnt to shit anyways."

"So how will we know if it works?"

"I'll talk you into sticking your finger into a socket of something."

"I'm not sticking my fingers into any sockets!"

"It's a joke, a joke. Something has to still work in this place. Maybe a fridge or a stove."

"Oh, yeah. The kitchen survived most of the fire."

"There we go, now hold these up as high as you can and when I say move, drop the cords and step away as fast as you can."

"I hate you…"

The two gazed in wonder at the kitchen stove as the big bold digital numbers flashed 12:00. "Ha! And you thought I didn't know what I was doing."

"Oh, I still think you don't know what you're doing. I'm blaming this miracle on dumb luck."

"Who cares what you think? I'm going to bed. If you wake me up for any reason, I'll shoot you."

"Sweet dreams, asshole…"

"Hey, if you've got nothing better to do, then clean up this mess and try to bury that power line."

Ryouga raised an eyebrow and gave Ranma a sarcastic tone. "Oh, I'll that for ya all right." Ranma was out like a light on the floor in no time and Ryouga was left to himself. 'I have to admit… It's nice having him around again… He's still an absolute jerk wad though…'

Morning came and Ranma was nowhere to be found. Ryouga had a bad kink in his neck and tried rubbing it out as he pushed himself away from the wall. "Ranma! Hey dick head! Where are you?" Ryouga went unanswered and decided to stay put for an hour before going out and getting himself lost. It wasn't long that he had to wait as he heard a large truck coming up and parking itself outside the dojo. The door slammed close and Ranma walked through the gate with a couple bags in his hands. "Where were you?"

Ranma tossed him two bags and said. "Getting breakfast and a new toy."

Ryouga started picking away at his rice and noodle breakfast as he found that toy Ranma had mentioned. "Why'd you get a watch?"

"It's not a watch, it's a GPS with an automatic mapping system. A buddy of mine from a while back is a real whiz kid with electronics. I told him I knew a guy that got lost a lot, so he had it made. I'll show you how to program that bad boy in a minute."

"This is… for me?"

"Yeah. You're gonna need to know where you're going and how to get there quick if you're going to be pounding sense into people. That thing will always tell you where you are and you can program it to point you towards where ever it is you need to go. I've already put in the strip club and this place, so all you gotta do is make sure the blips are pointing straight ahead of you and you'll eventually get there."

Ryouga looked at Ranma with wide eyes as he flicked the switch on the side on. He watched the screen as it showed two blips. One was right in front of him and another was far off to his left. As he turned the blip to the left slowly centered. Ryouga looked up at Ranma and then back at the wrist mounted GPS. "This is… the greatest gift any one has ever given me…"

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. Any ways eat up and get your shit in gear. We've got some shopping to do before we go to work tonight."

"Shopping?"

"You'll see."

Ranma pulled into a strip mall in his newly painted truck with nice new plates. "You said we were gonna dump this thing…"

"It's useful, no one's going to think its theirs now come with me." Ryouga followed Ranma into clothing store and looked around at the fine selection. "Now I told Boris that you were a pretty bad apple, but sweat pants and a yellow shirt doesn't exactly scream hostile. We're going with the standard bad ass look."

"What's the standard bad ass look?"

"Black or white tank top with a leather jacket and either blue jeans or something that's olive. You need to look like you can hurt some one if crossed."

"But I can hurt some one."

"Yeah, but you don't look it. Now go get your shit and meet me at the till."

The two were now heading towards a barbershop. "You want me to get a hair cut?"

"No, I want them all cut. It's also getting dyed black."

"I never agreed to this…"

"But you're gonna do it anyways."

The two walked in to find three familiar sights. It was the old principal of the Furikan high school and his two kids. Kuno wasted no time pulling out a stick and lunging at Ranma. "Demon!"

Ranma grabbed the end and whacked him in the face with it. "He still sucks…"

Kodachi had stars in her eyes as she gazed at Ranma. "My love! You've come back to me."

"Yeah, and I'm yours if you do his hair, now get to it."

Ryouga was seated immediately and Ranma walk over to the ex-principal. "So, how's business?"

The guy still wore his Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses, and for some reason seemed happier then ever. "It going good Kiki. I finally find me true calling in life."

"That's good to hear."

"Yous coming here for a trim to mon?"

"No, I'm good. Hey I've got a question."

"Shoot."

"Remember Akane Tendo? I've been looking around for her, but people are kind of hard to find these days."

"Nah. I no see little kawani. She came by for a trim three weeks back and I no see her since."

"I need his hair black babe. Three weeks huh? Well its better then nothing I guess. She didn't leave an address or phone number did she?"

"Nah, she just walk in, get a trim and leave. I no do appointment here. Customers just walk in and I make art."

"Ahh, don't worry about it then. If you see her again, just tell her to stop by her old dojo."

"I do this for you. You sure you no need a trim? Looking kinda long in the back, no?"

"Still after my pigtail I see."

The old guy shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "What can I say? I'ma always up for a challenge."

"At least you didn't change." Ranma looked over at Ryouga as he got out of the chair with a look of fright in his eyes. "Well that was quick. Gotta hand it to ya Kodachi, you know what you're doing."

"Thank you my love… My father taught me many things. You'll be back soon, right?"

"Of coarse." Ranma gave the ex-principal his money and Kodachi a hell of a tip followed by using Kuno as a doormat. "See you guys around."

The next stop was the grocery store which went by quickly with only really purchasing instant foods and frozen dinners. The two were back in the truck, but Ryouga still had that look of horror upon his face. "What the hell's the matter now?"

Ryouga looked at him and then in the side view mirror of the truck. "Sh-she wasn't even looking…"

"Ah, it turned out fine, didn't it? Now I'm going to give a few calls here and there and then we're working on making shit in that house work."

"I though for sure…"

"It's fucking hair! Get over it!"

The afternoon was coming up late and the soft orange glow behind a smog cloud was quickly sinking and fading. The dojo had wires, hooks, and other quick patch works hanging all about the place. Ranma had found an old T.V and managed to tap into the neighbor's cable line. Lights hung off of bare wire and a radio played softly in the background, letting that sweet old rock and roll fill the air as the two ate in silence. Ryouga couldn't help but open his mouth. "I never would have pegged you for a handy guy."

"It's just cheap repairs, I can't build a house or anything."

"Still, I couldn't have done this myself."

"It's just a temporary base, until we find something better. Getting to know that GPS yet?"

"Yeah, I've been playing with it. I got the Amazon's place as well as the downtown apartment blocks. I can take you there when ever you need."

"Cool." Ranma's ears twitched as he heard something going on in the alleyway behind the house. "Some one's sneaking around back there…"

Ryouga leaned to look behind Ranma. There were shadows passing by the slowly and a few guys talking quietly. "What do ya think they want?"

"It's just a guess, but I think this area's been tagged by a gang. We may be intruding."

"How are WE intruding?"

"Let's go find out." Ranma put his bowl down and walked to the gate. Upon opening it he saw five guys outside getting ready to bust in. "Can I help you?"

A guy with a shaved head and earring twirled a bat around in his hands. He was clearly the leader of the pack. "You can help, us by gettin' the fuck out of here." He pointed the bat like an arrow to a spray paint design on the wall. "This is our territory and nobody gets in with out permission."

"I see… How about this? I'm only going to be here for a few days. Go tell your boss I'll be out of his hair by Sunday and we can go on like nothing happened."

"Ain't gonna work that way. You see, I'm the boss, and as soon as I start to let things slide around here, people start to think they can walk all over me. You can take that imported piece of shit and drive it out of here, or you can leave in body bags, your choice."

Ranma reached an arm out and grabbed the guy by the throat. The gang reacted as well as Ryouga jumping past Ranma to take down two guys. Ranma grabbed the bat out of the skinhead's hand and started belting guys across the face with it. Blood was spilled and teeth were missing, with three guys left standing. Ranma tightened his grip around the skinhead's neck and asked calmly. "You're too stupid to be the boss, you know that? And if you are the actual boss, then I guess I've just felt the full force of this little piss poor posse of yours. Now who's the real boss?"

The guys struggled to breath but managed to spit on Ranma's face. "F-Fuck you!"

Ranma shook his head and whacked the bat against the side of the bald man's head. "That's not the answer I'm looking for." Ranma gave the guys head another hit. "Now I'll ask again. Who are you working for and where is he?"

He hung there limp for a few seconds pretending to be unconscious, but when he felt Ranma weight shift to knock him in the head again, he opened his eyes wide and yelled. "Wait! Wait!"

Ranma tapped him on the head a couple times and said, "Start talking."

"Our bosses name is Jerry. He's down at the docks, let me go man!"

Ranma shook his head. "Nah. You're coming with me. We're both going to see Jerry."

"No way man! He'll kill me!"

"Not my problem. Ryouga, help me get these dumb fucks into the back of the truck. We're going for a drive."

Ryouga nodded and started tossing guys roughly into the box. Ranma finished up by tying them up with bungee cords, and devise an odd method of getting the information he wanted. He took out a roll of duck tape and started applying it the skinhead's hairy arms, legs, chest, and eyebrows. "I'd like to tell you now that lying to me is a bad thing. If I run out of tape to pull that nasty hair of yours out, then I'll start blowing limbs off with this little baby." Ranma pulled out the 9mm and flashed it in front of his eyes. "Now get in the fucking truck and don't speak unless spoken to, ya got that?"

He nodded carefully and climbed into the truck.

(ACDC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap)


	3. Disco Science

Disco Science

Good old skinhead was now sitting between a couple of lunatics and his death now seemed certain. It was a game between the two of them, one would ask a question and whether or not he knew the answer the second one would rip off another strip of tape. He was now down to his last eyebrow and the driver was twirling the 9mm on his finger with the safety off. His last ray of hope was about three blocks away and hopefully there wouldn't be a wrong turn between point A and point B. The guy with the jean jacket asked what was hopefully his last question. "Anything I should know about your boss? Rage problems for instance?"

"Th… The boss is reasonable…"

The last piece of tape came off his face and with clenched teeth; he tried to hold back his scream. The three rolled past the opened gates to a misty docking bay with huge cargo ships "Now I'm assuming a warehouse is your hideout. Mind pointing to which one?"

He raised a hand and said, "Over there. Number 23."

Ranma reached over and rammed the gun in the skinhead's mouth. "I only asked you to point…" The skinhead crossed his eyes to look down at his mouth and started breathing heavy. The gun slowly slid out of his mouth and Ranma put it away. "But it's an honest mistake." He pulled up beside the cargo bay told every one to get the hell out of his truck.

Ryouga grabbed three guys out of the back and started dragging them towards a door while waiting for Ranma. Ranma grabbed the last guy and held a gun to his new bald friend's head. He gave the door four hard knocks and waited for a response. It didn't take long and there was a voice at the door. "Who is it?"

"Pizza delivery, open up."

Ranma heard the voice distance itself away from the door. "Hey! Who ordered a pizza?"

It was after the question that Ranma gave the door a kick and broke the latch to get in. "Ryouga line these knobs up ahead of us and let them go in first."

A man with tattoos all over his face came back to the door and watched in disbelief as four men walked in tied together with bungee cord along with a fifth with a gun in his mouth walking backwards with his head against the back of number four's head. Number six was holding the gun and with a single bullet he held five lives hostage. Number seven was in the back, but he was more there for decoration. The icing on the cake it you will.

The man with tattoos on his face backed away and spoke to the skinhead in the back. "Fuck, Drew… What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time…?"

Ranma spoke for him. "Drew here has managed to piss me off. I'd like to speak with, what was that name again? Jerry? Yeah, Jerry."

The tattoo man nodded and kept stepping back. "Ok, man. I'll get Jerry. Just don't do anything fucked ok?"

Ranma nodded to him. "I'll play nice as long as every one else does."

Ink Face turned around and waved his hands. "Every one put your fucking guns down. I don't want to hear any gunfire, you got that?" About 12 guys nodded and mumbled about themselves, but the guns were down and the human billboard was running off into a back office.

A few seconds passed and soon Ink Face was back with a woman with an hourglass figure wearing a gray pin stripe suit. Ranma shook his head and before she could talk Ranma put up a hand to silence her and gave Drew a look. "Remember those questions I asked? And remember what I said about lying?" Drew's eyes grew wide as Ranma pulled the gun out his mouth and pushed it hard against his thigh. Every one twitched when the shot went off and Drew was now down on the ground rolling around like a basketball holding his leg. Ranma pushed him off to the side and took a step towards Jerry. "Sorry about that. I just really hate it when people lie to me."

The woman in the suit nodded and said, "Understandable. I assume Drew did something stupid again?"

Ranma turned on the safety on the gun and tossed it to Ryouga, and through instinct Ryouga pulled out his own, now wielding two, but letting them hang by his hips. He wasn't planning on shooting any one, but it would help in his escape if Ranma screwed up. "I think there was just a misunderstanding here. I got myself some property over in the first district that's apparently in your territory. I'm just visiting for a little while, and thought I'd just go home."

Jerry nodded and crossed her arms. "What's the address?"

"It's just a burnt out lot. The old Tendo dojo."

She chuckled and walked over to Drew. "What have I told you about placing your balls above your head?"

Ranma kept an eye on her as she walked. "You seem reasonable, I'm just looking for a place to crash, maybe do a little bit of work here and there before I go back. I don't feel like dealing with dip shits busting in on my shit and fucking up my routine."

Jerry put her a hand into her pocket and pulled out a gun. "Question."

"Fire away."

"Was he claiming to be the boss again?"

"You know it. That was something that really irritated me."

"Me too." She shot him in the shoulder letting the floor spray red. She signaled for the two to follow her back to her office as she stood up and turned around. "We should talk. Jerico. If he isn't dead in 10 mins, patch him up and throw him in the lockdown hold."

Ink face nodded and started dragging Drew across the floor to a medical room. "Yessir."

Ranma and Ryouga sat side by side as Jerry pulled up a seat and sat herself behind her desk. "I have to admit you two… It takes a lot of balls to come around here and stand up for your self."

"Just trying to keep the peace."

Jerry passed Ryouga a look and asked. "So you got a voice there good lookin'? Or are you just the designated silent mean guy?"

Ryouga shrugged his shoulders. "I just leave the talking to him, he seems to know what he's doing."

Jerry looked back at Ranma with the same questioning look. "So… What are you doing…?"

"Ranma, and this here is Ryouga."

"Ranma. So what are you doing?"

"Just looking for a stray cat."

She leaned back and for a moment and you could have sworn she was Nabiki by the way she acted. "Must be a pretty important cat if it takes two guys to find it. What's the value?"

"Purely sentimental."

"I see… Would you two like a drink."

They both waved their hands no. "We gotta go to work soon."

"That's too bad…" She poured herself a drink and took a sip. "I have to admit, I'm surprised to know you're back Mr. Soatome."

"Heard of me have you?"

"You're name is like a dirty word around here. Not to people like me though. Most people like to center the blame of a catastrophic event on single source; it's always been that way. When I came here I heard that this place went to shit because of you, but in truth it was bound to happen. You were just the person who speeded things up. I guess you already know that people don't like you very much so I'll cut ahead and just ask the question now. How long are you going to be here? I don't want people cutting into my territory just to get to you."

"I'm guessing a week."

"You have four days to find this cat and get out, you understand me?"

"Yup."

Jerry rubbed her head and took another sip of whiskey. "I'm not trying to be unfriendly here Mr. Soatome. You showed me a token of good will when you dropped my boys off alive. Maybe you're not a killer, maybe you are and quite frankly I don't care either way. I've heard about things going on in Kyoto for a little while now and they stopped about a month ago, giving that calm after the storm, so to speak. I don't want that storm coming here and I really don't want that storm in my backyard. You have four days and you're out. Give me the name of the cat your looking for and I'll see if any shelters are holding it around here. The sooner you're gone the easier that makes my job."

Ranma sat in silence before giving a name. "Akane Tendo. Ever heard of her?"

Jerry shook her head. "No, but I'll send my dogs out to find this cat. Remember. Four days and you're out of my territory. I don't care if you decide to skip town or go into someone else's territory, I just ask that you stay low, especially around here. After that you can do what ever the hell you want."

"I'll respect that. I'm not a bad guy I just do bad things. If you're snooping around for me then I can do favors for you too. You know where to find me."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyways I've got to go kill Drew or something so I'll say goodbye."

"See you around Jerry." Ranma got up and Ryouga followed once again like a baby duck.

"Hey, Soatome. One question before you go." Ranma turned and waited for it. Her expression was dark and accompanied by a smile. "Is it true what they said you did in Kyoto? How they couldn't kill you. Can you really catch bullets?"

Ranma gave her a low smile. "I've only ever caught one. And it's still lodged in my stomached."

"Hm. I thought it was too good to be true…"

"Lots of shit is Jerry. See ya."

The two were back in the truck and Ryouga was looking tense. "That was…"

"Risky, I know."

"I can't believe you shot that guy…"

"He'll live. Besides he's just scum. Doesn't have anything to offer this world. Anyways it's my first night and you'll be coming in about 10 mins after my shift starts. You need to keep a few things in mind, ok?"

"Yeah… What do I need to know? I'm just going to become the muscle guy right?"

"Yes, but today is going to be like an interview for you and I scoped this guy out a bit so here's a list of things to keep in mind. One, kiss his ass and kiss it well. This guy's got an ego the size of a freight train. Two, never disagree with him, he likes 'yes-men' and he likes to think he knows everything."

"Like you?"

"Yes, exactly like me. Now three. He's a real pig so make comments about the girls on stage. You'll get on his good side faster that way. Four, this one will come later depending on how long we have to stay there, if he talks about you like you're his son or the next guy in line, for the love of god disagree and say no one is as good as him. This comment is like a death warrant on your head. As soon as he thinks you're trying to take over he'll have you fucking killed."

"Killed? What kind of guy is he?"

"A sick one. A strip club is his drug dealing cover, any one could see that."

"I didn't!"

"Sorry. Most people could see that."

"Do you really think I'm up for this?"

"Oh, don't worry. You are just the dumb muscle remember? We are not staying long and if you do get into shit I'll bail you out."

"How come you can't be the muscle?"

"Because Ryouga, YOU are looking for Akane, because YOU lost her. I'm here to help you out of the kindness of my heart and considering I'm going to be degrading myself to the point of stripping to find a girl who hates me, I expect you to do something for me as well. You think you got the hard job? You know how hard it was for me to throw myself into this position for you? I fucking hate you, but I'm still doing this shit so suck it up and just do as I fucking well ask!"

"You're not the boss of me, screw you!"

Ranma hit the brakes hard and brought the truck to a grinding halt. "You know where Akane probably is right now? Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"No! Why do you think I came to you?"

"You were right to come to me Ryouga, because I have a damn good idea where she might be right now."

"Where?"

"The landfill."

"What would she be doing at the dump?"

"Probably rotting."

"What…?"

"You heard me… She's probably dead… Missing for a month now… No one knows where she went… She was the only person I had ever loved in this world, and somebody probably knew that, somebody that really hated me. It's a tradition you know?"

"Tradition?"

"An opposing force finds the source of his problems so he takes it out on anything that source is close too. Every one I was close to has been pushed down into this hellhole, and usually the one that was closest to me, Akane, would have been taken away, beaten down, had her teeth pulled out, killed, and then tossed into a dumpster."

"…You think she's dead…?"

"Maybe… I'm not sure… But I think more then likely."

"…Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"Because I'm angry Ryouga. I'm angry at you. I'm angry at them. I'm even angrier at myself. You see, Jerry already knows why I'm here. She's been in the game long enough to see blind rage out of control, slowly building up into as time goes. She also knows that when someone has nothing to lose, they can be very dangerous."

Ryouga started sounding like a frightened "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if Akane is dead, I will unleash unholy vengeance upon this city, and she knows I'm on the edge. If Akane is alive, I'll take her out of here and never look back, no questions asked. That's why she's willing to help."

"She… She can't be dead…"

"I'm not saying she is Ryouga… I'm just jumping to conclusions, but do you see where I'm coming from?"

Ryouga looked blankly for a few moments and then he pieced it together himself. "You still love her don't you? That's why you're willing to work at a strip joint. To get the information that's hard to get."

"Yeah… As dead as I like to pretend I am, I've never looked at another girl, not for a second. In truth I'm only half looking for her, but I think I already know the answer."

"Only half looking for… You're…"

"Preparing for war. I'm rooting out as many dirt bags that pollute this place as I can, and I'll kill every last one of them. I'll kill all the drug dealers, all the fucking pimps, all the arms dealers, and last but not least I'll kill every one associated with those guys from Liberty City…"

After a while Ryouga couldn't help but smile an evil smile. "You know… For a while there… I thought you really didn't care about her anymore."

"Don't go parading that information around. You know me, I say a lot of things, but actions speak louder then words. I'm willing to go all the way for her, how about you?"

"After a speech like that… Yeah… I'll go all the way for her, but I'm not leaving Ukyo behind. Just don't order me around and we'll get along fine until this is over."

"Fine I'll be nicer to you, but you've got to do something for me."

"What?"

"If the heat is too much to handle around here, then take Ukyo and leave. She was my best friend at one point, so…"

"I know. You can probably handle every thing yourself."

"Yeah, but it's easier if I have help."

"So what else do I need to know about Boris?"

Ranma put the thoughts behind him and continued with Ryouga's training. "Well not much actually, but I've got you're first test as hired muscle."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You're going to help me beat the living fuck out of the naked hobo currently pissing on the back tire of my truck."

"What?" Ryouga looked through the large back window to see a naked hobo pissing on the back of the truck while drinking from a bottle of mouthwash. "What the fuck?"

"I'll say. That shit just ain't cool."

"Right! We're beating up the hobo and then finding Akane! She's not dead, you hear me Ranma?"

"Yeah, I hear ya." The two opened the doors of the truck and proceeded to punish the scruffy man for his nasty ass deed.

The two walked towards the strip club as the world slowed down. Ryouga hiked his jacket onto his shoulders properly as Ranma adjusted her top make her tits stick out further. A small amount of steam pumped itself out of a manhole cover as the two walked through it unfazed keeping their target locked on and in range. The rest of the night went on and every now and again when it was Ranma's turn to dance she saw Ryouga walk in and talk to Boris through a dark purple tinted window. The smoke from valves came down upon her giving the crowd that anticipation while the brief nudity came into focus and disappeared behind a veil of blue mist changing to red, yellow, green, and then back to blue. She made absent love to the pole she hung from as she watched Boris tap something on his desk and then hold up a shadow-lined picture. Ryouga nodded within and got up for another exit. He was getting work done and getting it done fast. Boris was quickly becoming pleased with his new hired hand. Ranma lifted her hands above her head and started to bounce her breasts as she slowly went into the splits. She'd keep an eye on the office window behind the bar every time Ryouga came in with just a little bit more blood on his clothes. Some men hollered while others looked away shyly, while some just sat with thick sunglasses on blowing smoke from a big cigar. A drunk tried reaching out for her, but it was cut short when a bouncer grew tired of warning him and broke the pitcher of beer over the guy's head. Lights out and good night, asshole. The music played allowing Ranma to sway herself to the flow of the tune. It was now her forth time on stage, only one dance left and she was home free along with Ryouga. Every time he came in through those doors his expression became darker and darker, but like Ranma they both had good motivation given the circumstances of Akane's well being. She now hung herself upside down looking down at a drooling fool; his eyes were filled with lust meaning he had deep pockets tonight. She loosened the grip of her legs and slid slowly towards him and touching the tip of his nose with a light tap. She put on a fake smile as she sat in front of him and slid a foot across his face and in response he pulled out some bills and slowly glided them into an anklet she was wearing. Nabiki was coming in soon and she was done for the night as was Ryouga as he watched the show from the bar being one of the guys who looked away shyly. The smoke came down slow again as Ranma finished up her routine with crawling off stage giving the boys and a couple of lesbians at front row one last good look. Boris was behind the tinted window of his office with a smile on his face knowing that his new girl was good. He couldn't help but think of a way to get a piece of that tight little body.

Backstage Ranma found Nabiki in her dressing room getting ready, she was in for a surprise. "Hey…"

Nabiki turned around, annoyed with the fact that no one knocked. "What is it?"

"Long time no see."

Nabiki finally recognized the girl before her and dropped her lipstick, as she couldn't believe the sight. "R-Ranma…?"

Ranma closed the door behind her and leaned against it with a small evil half smile on her face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were smarter then this."

"You're the new girl?"

"Temporarily. I came here for information and I'm going very far out of my way to get it, so tell me something will ya?'

"Get out of here! No one asked you to come back."

"Wrong, Ryouga brought me back and I think you know why."

"Ranma, I'm not playing those games anymore. I'm doing what I have to do in order to pay off the rent. And I don't know why you're back."

Ranma chuckled as she walked over and came nose to nose with Nabiki. "You know exactly why I'm here and I know you have more then enough for rent. You'll always play games with people, so tell me what I want to know and I'll be out of your life for good."

Nabiki crossed her arms with a scowl on her face. "Akane right…?"

"Why else would I come back? Where is she?"

Nabiki placed and elbow on the desk beside her and leaned her head into her hand. "I don't know. She's been gone for a while."

"I'm getting really tired of that answer, Nabiki. Like you, I've got shit on my plate and things to do. How could you not know where your own sister is? Don't you two talk anymore?"

"She just up and disappeared one day Ranma, I can't tell you anything more then that."

"Can't or won't?" Nabiki shifted in her seat for a second apparently sitting on something uncomfortable. "So, who's got you under their thumb?"

Nabiki sighed. "My employer that's who."

"Does he know where Akane is?"

"He might."

"Once again, this doesn't help me Nabiki, I need something solid."

"He said he's heard the name, but he's not telling me anything. He wants me to start sucking his dick on a regular basis for that information…"

The bottle of nail polish Ranma had picked up shattered in her hand as she asked her next question. "Have you?"

"No…"

Ranma sighed to herself. "But you're getting desperate."

"A little bit…"

"Fuck me, Nabiki… What happened to that clever girl that couldn't be cornered by any one?"

"She got into something way over her head, that's what. Now Boris and his faggy little buddy have me working for them."

"Who's his little buddy?"

"Oh god, he's this stupid English guy-"

"Is his fucking name Paul?"

Nabiki nodded. "Y-yeah. You know him?"

"You could say that. Does he know where Akane is?"

"Yeah, he's the one that said he's seen her. What's wrong?"

"Nabiki… Never mind… I'll see you tomorrow. Boris said we're doing a dance together."

"Ugh! That asshole!"

"Don't let it get to you. I'm going to go have a talk with Paul."

"He doesn't have loose lips, you know?"

"Oh, he fucking well will. But first I have to deal with Ryouga."

"Are you two still fighting? Geez…"

Ranma and Ryouga walked out the back door of the strip club with a nervous stride beside Ranma. It was eating him away inside. He'd watched Ranma dance and watched closely. He shook as he hoped Ranma hadn't seen him watch her. His hopes were shatter when the door behind them closed and Ranma rammed Ryouga up against a dumpster with a gun under his chin. "R-Ranma! I-I'm sorry!"

Ranma took some deep breaths and slowly lowered the gun. "Look… I'm not proud of what I'm doing right now and as the guy I'm going to be spending a lot of time with in the future I simply ask that you distinguish yourself from the rest and not stare at me. Just let me keep my dignity Ryouga, please."

"I didn't mean too man. It was automatic, I swear."

Ranma took a couple extra breaths and put the gun away. "I know… I know… I'm just edgy. You'll keep your dick in your pants and your head out of your ass right?"

"I'd never think something like that."

"I know you-" SMACK

"Nice ass baby!" Ranma turned around see something she wanted to kill. It caught her off guard as to what she saw. "Yus wanna hick come over re and gif us alittle somfin' somfin'?" It was her father holding up a drunken Mr. Tendo leaning of his shoulder. The two were drunk beyond reason and Genma was trying to get laid behind his wife's back. "Come on… I'f got munny."

Ryouga did the smart thing and backed away slowly from the oncoming fury. "Oh, my god…"

Ranma's fists tightened up and her body became tense. Genma reached out to try and touch her but she held his hand back as she screamed. "YOU TWO TIMING SOME OF A BITCH!" Genma was clobbered across the face and fell like a sack of shit while vomiting on himself.

Mr. Tendo tried to defend his friend with a flaccid arm and failed when Ranma grabbed the back of his head and brought in down onto her knee five time. Ryouga grabbed Ranma's arms and held her back. "Calm down! Calm down! They're drunk they don't know any better!"

Ranma shrugged herself loose from Ryouga and stood over her father. "You're right… They don't know what fuck they're doing… But I've got something that'll sober them up real fast."

"What…?"

"We're gonna go see my mom! I'll grab the fat fuck, you grab the skinny one."

"Ok, man. Just calm down, we'll get some hot water and go see your mom..."

Ranma kept taking deep breaths letting her chest rise and fall. "Ok… Ok… Phew… You drive man…"

"Ok, I'll drive, just calm the fuck down."

"I'm calming… Calming… ARGH!" She kicked Genma across the face for good measure and seemed to un-tense after it. "Ok, feeling better now… Let's go. Gotta whoop a lot of ass tonight…"

"I'm taking the keys out of your purse. Don't hit me."

"Cool as ice man. Ice cold. I'm one frosty mother fucker."

"Ok… good… That's good. Now get in the truck."

"Truck. Seat. Done."

(Mirwais - Disco Science)


	4. Wicked Game

Wicked Game

Ryouga kept an eye on his GPS as he drove along the empty midnight street dodging shadows of mysterious men doing mysterious thing down mysterious back alleys. Every one had their own life and own problems and they dealt with it in their own way. Ranma sat in the passenger seat with his head against the window watching the power lines come forth and pass by slowly. Occasionally a lamp pole would light up the cab revealing the sad expression on his face and then putting them both back in the dark. Who could blame him? His fathers actions were a result of Ranma's screw up, of course he felt like shit. Ryouga couldn't help but think what Ranma was going to tell his mom. 'Hey mom I'm back after not calling for two years, I've kill some people, I'm a wanted criminal, I'm stripping, my ex-fiancé has probably been murdered and hey, guess who's been trying to pick up cheap whores behind your back?' It wasn't going to be pretty and Ranma was now regretting the trip to see his mom, but at the same time he wasn't trying to back down. He just hoped that the drive would take forever to get there, but sometimes forever just isn't long enough.

Ryouga parked in an empty stall, shut off the engine and waited patiently for Ranma. "You ready?"

Ranma lifted his head slowly and nodded as he opened the door. "Yeah… Let's just get this over with."

"She wants to see you man. Don't worry."

The two made their way to the third floor. Ranma was dragging his father by the back of his shirt and placed him down for a moment as he gave the door some hard knocks. It was midnight; a knock on your door at midnight always means something bad has happened, it was the not knowing what was on the other side of that door that struck fear into people's hearts. It could be a police officer coming to tell you some one has died. What if it's some drunk at the wrong house trying to get in? Maybe it's a friend that has no sense of time. Maybe it's your long lost son carrying your drunken husband home coming to bear nothing but bad news. Either way a tired lady answered the door slowly and her eyes filled with joy as she swung it open and wrapped her arms around her child. Ranma forgot about his father for a moment and smiled as he exchanged an arm around her and held her close. Nodoka opened her eyes to look down behind her sons shoulder and saw her husband drunk and passed out as usual. Ryouga didn't need to be told; he just grabbed Mr. Tendo and went to his place to screw off too while the two had their talk.

It was a dead back and forth conversation with all the usual simple questions. 'Are you ok? When did you get here? What have you been doing? Where did you find your father? I'm so glad you're all right. How long will you be staying? Have you seen Akane yet? What do you mean no one knows where she is? Soun didn't say anything about her missing. What's going on?'

Ranma just told her the truth. He owed that much to her, that was certain. Hell this was the first time she'd really gotten to know her son so she may as well have the full story. The most recent events scared her though. "So… You're working at a…"

"Just for now."

"…I could help you get a job where I am, if you're really that tight for money…"

"I know its hard to understand, but… I have to do these things to find her. I'm part of that underworld of criminals now. I have to ring people out for information."

"A-are you, umm… Gay? I-I don't mind if you are-"

"No, I'm not gay. As I said, I'm going to be there for a little while to gather information. I think Akane's in deep trouble."

"I don't think I understand… Maybe I'm just tired… I take it you found you're father at the place you… work."

"Mom… There's something you need to know about dad…"

"I… I already know…"

"You know that he picks up prostitutes?"

"Yes…"

Ranma stared at her for a few seconds. "Are you two not married anymore?"

"No… We are…"

"And you let him get away with this?"

"…It's my fault anyways…"

"Wha… What's your fault again?"

"I… I was a bad mother… I chased you out of here myself… What kind of wife am I?"

"Whoa… Wait a second. Where did this come from? You were never given a chance to be my mother. Dad kept you away."

"W-well he said…"

"Dad told you this?"

"Well…"

"He told you that you were a bad mother and wife? And this is why you let him go around screwing prostitutes?"

"…Yes…"

"Hold on a second mom. I have to go wake dad up."

Ranma got up off the couch with that same twisted look of hatred he had on his face at the strip club. Genma moaned as Ranma boot stomped his face and got him to his feet to start pulling him towards the bathroom. "You fucking sack of shit… You greedy goddamn conniving bastard…" Nodoka stood up out of concern when she heard the bath turn on and something hit water with protest. When she walked in she saw her husband's head stuffed in the toilet and the bathtub filling up with only the hot water valve on. Ranma pulled Genma's head out and asked. "Are you awake yet?" Another moan came out of him so Ranma tried hot water this time. "Maybe this'll get you talking?" Another head dunk, but this time in steaming hot water Genma started to flail his arms trying to get out. Ranma pulled Genma head out again and shook him in front of his face. "Hey! You recognize me yet? You know who the fuck I am?"

Genma burped out something disgusting and gave Ranma a look. "Yours that no guud son nuf mine…"

"Still groggy huh? I think you need some coffee." Ranma pulled Genma towards the kitchen to find the coffee pot, and upon discovery he detached the pitcher and busted it across his dad's face leaving a deep red gash across his forehead. That woke Genma up out of his stupor. He shook his head and focused his eyes.

"Wha! What 're you doin' in my housh?"

"Fucking your ass up. That's what." Ranma smoked him across the face again and pushed him into a wall with a hand chocking his neck tightly. Ranma started feeling Genma's wind pipe growing soft as he crushed it down. "What the fuck have you been filling mom's head with? What the fuck have you been telling her?"

Genma managed to smack Ranma's arm off of him tried throwing a punch. Ranma grabbed it out of the air and quickly started twisting his father's arm behind his back all the way to the breaking point. "AHHH! STOP! STOP!"

"Beg all you want! It won't do you any fucking good! Call this punishment!" Genma felt one of his fingers being pulled and suddenly being snap side ways. "One finger for me!" Genma wailed out as he felt his finger break and he screamed again when he felt Ranma grab the next one. "Two for all the fiancés!" CRACK! "Three for all the lies!" CRACK! "Four for the fucking curse!" CRACK! Ranma then grabbed the center of his father's hand held it tightly. "And the works for every thing you've put mom through…" Ranma twisted the hand with a quick twist until it faced the wrong way leaving Genma falling the ground screaming. Ranma grabbed the back of Genma's shirt again and headed towards the door. He was tossed out into the hallway and as he looked up he stared straight down the barrel of the gun pointed between his eyes. "If I ever see you around here again I'll paint these walls with your fucking blood! Now get the fuck out of here before I fill that thick skull of yours full of lead." Ranma didn't wait for Genma to respond and just closed the door on his face leaving him with the agony of his hand to deal with.

The door swung closed and Ranma now faced his mother with a cross look on his face as he walked towards her. She was frightened and stepping back putting her hands in front of her telling Ranma to not come near. "P-please don't hurt me…"

Ranma let his gun hit the floor as he came in close and gave his mother a tight hug. "I'd never hurt you mom. Not in a million year and I won't let any one else hurt you, especially him. You don't deserve this."

Slowly she returned the hug and after a few moments she broke down and started crying on his shoulder. "I… I've missed you so much…"

"I know…"

"You've become such a fine man…"

"Nah. I'm still you're baby boy, I've just got a problem with anger these days. Are you going to be ok by yourself tonight?"

"Please stay with me… I'm afraid…"

"Ok… I'll stay with you. Don't worry."

She eventually drifted off to sleep leaning on her son's shoulder with a calm smile on her face. The anguish that had previously been there had now been replace with a warm feeling of euphoria that made your head feel three feet higher then it really was and made you question if this was in fact reality. It's always nice to find a place that will take you in and hold you with nothing but love, like being wrapped in an angel's arms. It's that small paradise that a person can find if they look hard enough and believe that this is your moment of Zen, and then it'll enlighten you and carry you away across an ocean of peace bringing you to that island of freedom and hope. However one must protect these feelings if they wish for them to survive, so there sat Ranma in the dark with a view of the door now colored that dark ambient blue, with a loaded gun and eyes only half open. Tonight he wasn't sleeping for he was on guard duty, defending the front of what was left of his happiness. Shadows stretched across the room as wind picked up outside sending in the black lines of unorganized branches through the window, making him paranoid and sketchy at best. Tonight wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare of a dark beast hunting you down through a dead forest and no matter how much you skip and stride away, it will get you and eat you alive starting with your feet. Ranma jerked at he woke up. He'd managed to drift off and was now looking around to make sure he hadn't missed anything, but he did. He missed the night and his mother was coming over to him with a cup of tea. "Oh… Did I wake you?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine dear… How about you? You were mumbling in your sleep."

"Just a bad dream…" Ranma glanced over at a clock and took a sip of his tea. "Hmm. I'm gonna have to leave soon."

Nodoka smiled as she sat across from him. "You're… going to look for her?"

"Yup."

"I want you to take something with you then…" She set her tea down and got up and walked into a room where he heard her rummaging through a closet. She came out with a black box and something wrapped up. "If… If you get in trouble…" Nodoka gulped as she placed the things on the table. "I just don't want you to get hurt out there… It's very dangerous…"

Ranma already knew what was wrapped up but he was curious about the box. He popped the lid off and gazed in wonder. "M-Mom! When did you get this?" He pulled out a six-shooter magnum from the box and looked at the 120 rounds left in the box.

"Some times… Bad men come around here. They don't hurt me, but they break a lot of things… I guess I bought it because I was scared, but I can't fire that thing, so… If you're in trouble… I can't believe I'm saying this…"

Ranma reached over and put hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm grateful believe me, but why the sword too?"

"Maybe it's tradition. I'm not sure, but it's our family sword and it's only been collecting dust in my closet so…"

"Ok, I get it."

"I just hope you don't have to use them…"

"I'll do my best to stay out of trouble, but when I'm done here I'm taking you with me, ok? We'll leave this hell hole together."

Nodoka sat down beside Ranma and put her arms around him. "That would be nice…"

"What you don't believe me?"

She laughed and let go of him. "Sorry. I've just lost some faith that's all."

Ranma sipped the last of his tea and stood up with the objects under his arms. "Well you'd best find it again. I have to get to work now, so if you need anything or if pops comes back just give my pager a call and I'll be right over." He jotted down a number and gave his mother a hug.

"I'll do that. Please stop by anytime, I haven't seen you in so long."

"I know…"

Ranma assumed Ryouga had stayed the night at the Tendo residence, so he decided to pay a visit. Three knocks and busy feet were making their way to the door. It was nice to see Kasumi answer the door with that ever-present smile. She looked overworked and a bit tired, but smiling all the same. She gave Ranma a smile, a hug, and invited him in. "It's been so long, how are you?"

"Fine. How about you? How's Mr. Tendo?"

"Oh, he's… sleeping. It seems he's had a bit too much to drink last night…"

Ranma could tell by her tone that this was becoming a daily occurrence, and that she was probably paying all the bills, along with Soun's drinking habits. Ranma couldn't help but notice the feint red mark on her cheek, but couldn't find the nerve to ask. "Did Ryouga spend the night here?"

"Oh, yes. He's on the couch right now. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, I'm good. I just stopped by to say hi, and pick up Ryouga." Ranma walked over to the couch and gave it a shake. "Yo! Get up." Ryouga slowly opened his eyes, looked at Ranma for a second, and decided he wasn't worth his time, rolled over and dozed off again. "You cheeky bastard…" Ranma whipped the covers off of Ryouga sending that icy breeze of wind to shoot across his mostly naked body. Ranma looked down for a few moments and almost laughed.

"Hey! What's the big idea?"

"You know Ryouga… I have a lot of things that I wish to see, hear, and experience in this world, but for some reason seeing you in a he-kini just didn't make the list."

Ryouga looked down at his cheetah print man-panty and started turning red. "AHH! I-it's not a he-kini!"

"Oh, so there's a difference between this and a man-panty?"

"Ahh! Give me my pants damnit!"

"Gladly. So are you awake and ready to go?"

"Yeah, yeah… Geez…" Ryouga got dressed and bowed to Kasumi. "Thanks for letting me spend the night, I'll make it up to you some time."

"Oh, don't worry. It's always nice to see you."

Ranma tapped Ryouga's shoulder and asked him a question. "Hey, can you wait for me downstairs? I've got a little bit of a private matter with Kasumi here."

Ryouga shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Sure."

"Thanks." Ryouga left and Ranma made his way over to Kasumi. "Hey… I've got a question."

"You're looking for Akane, right?"

"Yeah. Ryouga said he asked here, but I just want to double check."

Kasumi picked up a couple dishes from the table and started walking over to the kitchen with them. "She moved out shortly after you left here. For some reason she never really stayed in touch, but that's just Akane. No one really knew she was gone until Ryouga stopped by asking questions. I'm sure she's ok, but if you wouldn't mind… Could you keep looking for her, just to be safe?"

"Sure. Also, what about Dr. Tofu? I tried stopping by his office but the place was torn down."

Kasumi seemed to stop for a moment as if remembering something but she kept herself quiet. "He… moved away, I think. That's what father said, anyways. I haven't seen or heard from him for quite some time now."

"Ok… Hey do you mind if I have a word with Mr. Tendo for a second?"

"I wouldn't want to wake him… But if it's important…"

"It is. Is his bedroom over there?"

"Yes, please keep your voice down though."

Ranma stepped into the room letting his heels drag and feet thump. "Rise and shine Mr. Tendo, I got a question for ya."

Soun opened his eyes groggily but recognized Ranma in a second. "R-Ranma? When did you get back?"

"Two days ago and as it seems I'm not liked around here."

"Oh, you probably saw Soatome… Don't mind him, he's just being stubborn as always."

"No, he's got definite reason to hate me now."

"Look here my boy, I know that in the past I was angry with you, but I forgave you and I hope you forgave me as well. You were always so good to my little girls."

"You might now want to get so friendly with me just yet. You might not like what I've got to say."

Soun bowed his head and tried getting rid of his headache. "I understand if you are still mad at me…"

"Let put that aside for a moment Mr. Tendo, I've got a question that's been bugging me."

"Certainly."

"Dr. Tofu. When I asked Kasumi about him she seemed a bit… I don't know…"

Soun sighed and thought for a moment. "It may be best if you do not get involved with it my boy… The good doctor has had a little bit more then a rough patch in his life."

"Just tell me, I'm going to find out anyways."

Soun sighed again and thought it through. "He was caught selling morphine to people… His license was removed and his clinic was shut down. I don't think for a second that he did it, but… Well, there are those people that changed this city… Any ways, he couldn't find work anywhere and since he had a criminal record he wasn't allowed to leave town. He's… currently homeless… I have no clue where he is, but I suspect it would be close to his old clinic."

"I see…"

"What was that other thing you were talking about my boy?"

"Oh, yeah… Listen Mr. Tendo… I think you're a great guy and all, but only when you're sober. Now I know I've only just arrived, but I'm under the impression that you've been having a bit more then your share of alcohol these days."

"Wha-"

"Just listen for a second. Now what I'm saying here is that last night I was in my girl form and you and my dad thought I was a prostitute. You both tried to pick me up and it's probably because of that that you have a killer headache right now. With this in mind I assume that you do stupid things when you're drunk, now here's my real problem so you better listen up." Soun sat staring at Ranma trying to comprehend what he'd done last night. "When I walked in here this morning I couldn't help but notice a mark on Kasumi's face. Maybe she just bumped her head, maybe it was something else, but hear this. I have no tolerance for angry drunk assholes that hit women." Ranma pulled out his brand new 45. Magnum and flashed it in front of Soun. "So, I'll let this one little red mark slide, but if I ever see another one on that sweet girl's face… I will murder you in such a way that they'll only be able to identify you through dental records." Soun's eyes were wide with fear as he lay there trying to remember if he had ever hit his daughter. It was fuzzy but he defiantly remembered something. The calm of Ranma's words sent a deathly shiver down his spine and he couldn't help but shake. "Are we at an understanding here, Mr. Tendo?" Soun nodded slowly. "Good, now lay off the sauce and get yourself some fulltime work." Soun nodded again and stayed silent. "Good bye Mr. Tendo. I was nice seeing you again."

"So what did Nabiki have to say last night?"

"Same old same old. She doesn't know where Akane is either, but she said Paul would."

Ryouga passed Ranma a look. "You mean that guy from before?"

"Yup. And he's exactly who we're going to be seeing in about 5 mins. So how about you? How was your first night as Captain Beat-up?"

"I felt bad about it, but you were right about contacts. There were a few guys that had things I thought you'd find interesting, so I took a bribe and promised them business if they didn't go back to the strip club and spread word that they got worked by some guy from Boris's place."

Ranma raised his eyebrows and nodded with a smile. "Nicely done Ryouga. I knew you'd get the hang of it in no time. Any interesting names I should hear about?"

"Hiro Tankashi. He's a serious gun collector by the looks of his place, and he was carrying quite the piece of machinery down his pants."

"Sounds dirty."

"Very funny… Any ways, he had a few body guards all carrying something that look a little too fancy for a conventional sporting goods department."

"Cool. Any one else?"

"Akira Hanzo. He doesn't really have anything merchandise wise to offer, but he packed a hell of a punch. If we needed a three-man muscle team to pull something off I'd ask this guy to help."

"How'd you woo that one?"

"He's one of those really honorable types. I beat him in a fair fight, so he respected me and offered to help me if I didn't kill him."

"Sounds reasonable. That's it I take it."

"Sort of…"

"What does that mean?"

"Well… Remember those guys you used to hang out with back in school?"

Ranma broke out laughing when he realized what Ryouga was telling him. "Those two are in shit?"

"Well, you knew them so I cut them a bit of slack, but I still had to rough them up a little bit…"

"Aw I don't mind. They should have known better… Speaking of school…"

"We're here… So, what's today's torture method?"

"Depends where he is."

The two walked into the boy's bathroom to find Paul getting ready to do some lines on the counter. Just as he ducked his head down Ranma grabbed his hair and pulled him up. "Hey fuck head. How's it going?"

"Hey, hey, hey! What's with this ere? I told you fucks all I know!"

"Wrong Paul. You lied to me and you know it and unfortunately I've come to a conclusion about you."

"Oh, I can't wait to ere' this…"

"I just can't bring myself to kill ya Paul. You're so low on the food chain that it'd be just too cruel."

"Oh, well thank you for that, so if yer done ere' then let me the go and fuck off."

"Paul man! What's with the hostility here? I though we were buddies? You know, I thought we could tell each other things, like Akane's whereabouts for instance."

"Hey, I've told you once, now I'm telling you again, I don't know where the fuck this bird is?"

"Paul… I'm going to ruin your day now… Grab his hands Ryouga."

"Hey! Hey! Stop it!"

Ryouga had Paul's hands pinned behind his back and Ranma was off in one of the stalls getting a wad of toilet paper. "Kneel him down by the urinal." Paul watched in horror as Ranma reached into the urinal with the toilet paper and pulled out the soap cake in the bottom. "Open up Paul." Paul sealed his lips tight and tried to get away. Ranma gave Paul a quick poke in the eye, which caused him to gasp and lean forward. The cake was now inside the mouth and Ranma was holding it closed. "So how does it taste my man? I'm guess a lot like soap with a hint of piss."

Paul tried to spit it out but the urine-flavored cake kept sliding to the back of his throat. Ryouga tightened his grip on Paul and asked nicely. "So are ya gonna tell us where she is?" Paul made a lot of noise but no words could be heard. "I don't think he's going to Ranma…"

"Me neither… I'm not hearing him say anything helpful…"

"Do you think it's because of the piss patty?"

"Nah, that can't be it." Paul was getting nauseous and before he knew it he threw up in his mouth but thanks to Ranma's clamp down on his jaw he was forced to swallow it back down. Ranma put the toilet paper in front of Paul's mouth and hit the back of his head to get the cake out. "So, tell me Paul… Why is it Nabiki tells me you know where her sister is, but you tell me you don't?"

Paul was leaning in the urinal trying to cough up as much of the bad taste as possible. "The bitch is lying!" Paul threw up again and Ranma wasted no time getting the cake back into Paul's mouth. Once again his hand clamped Paul's mouth shut and Ranma came eye to eye with him. "For that Paul… That outright lie… You get to eat this cake." Paul started shaking and shook his head, no. "You're right Paul… How can I force you? I'm not going to kill you I said that didn't I? But here's your problem. My buddy Ryouga here is an angry guy, and he'll send a bullet through your head."

Ryouga came in right on cue pulling out his gun and pressing it under Paul's chin. "I'm a sadistic killer Paul… So you better start chewing, and once it's all gone we can talk again, but if it's too much to swallow, I can add a couple extra holes in your head to get rid of it."

Paul started breathing hard and after a few moments his jaw moved and a crunch was heard. Ranma diverted his eyes with a smile and shook his head. "Man, that shit is nasty… I can honestly say, you're a bigger man then I am, Paul." A few more moments passed as Paul prepped himself for the swallow. His throat moved and before the pieces of cake could reach his stomach Ranma let go of his mouth and Paul hurled once again. Paul was once again leaned over the urinal puking his guts out and as he did that Ranma reached into the urinal beside him and pulled out a new cake. "Now are we going to have to go through this again, or are you going to ruin my fun?"

Paul shook his head and squeezed out a few tears. "I-I'll fucking tell you… Just leave me the fuck alone man…"

"All you had to do was tell me to begin with Paul, and this all could have been avoided."

"You don't understand mate… they'll kill me…"

"No skin off my back. So tell me and maybe you'll live longer then you think."

"She's… She got herself involved with big dumb fucking bloke name Jasper… He's come all the way from Liberty City to make sure shit here works out."

"So who's that Garino guy you told be about?"

"That's his fucking brother… I tried to tell you man, but I didn't know how. No one knows where this Jasper guy is, except his brother Garino."

Ranma got up and got Paul some paper towels. "You did good today Paul. As long as you don't lie to me, I won't be back."

Paul wiped his mouth and spat on the floor. "It's the fucking truth man… You've gotta believe me."

"I believe you Paul. Do you believe him Ryouga?"

"Sure, I'll believe him, but lord have mercy on him if he's lying."

"Some goes with me. See ya around Paul."

The two walked fast out of the school and towards the truck. Ryouga had a big smile plastered to his face. "W-we know where she is now!"

Ranma had the same smile as well. "No, no. We know who has her."

"Still! This is fucking amazing!"

"Hey, we've still got a lot of work to do. We can't just go in and ask Garino where Akane is. We need people who can help us."

"Ranma! You are the man!"

"Hey… You're making feel all soft and cozy inside. I couldn't have done that without you. That was a hell of a front you put up back there."

"R-really?"

"Man, I thought you were a fucking psycho there for a minute!"

"Well… You know… It's for Akane…"

"No! That's good! We need to keep doing that." Ranma's pager started beeping and he pulled it out of his pocket to give it a check. "Today's a good day. You know that Ryouga?"

"Why?"

"My friends from out of town are here and waiting at the dojo."

"You're friends?"

"Yeah, even the guy that made the GPS for you. You can thank him personally."

"Man! This IS a good day!"

Ranma turned around the corner to see his truck being towed away by a tow truck. "FUCK!"

"Well, you did park beside a fire hydrant…"

"Today blows!"

(Chris Isaak - Wicked Game)


	5. Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas 

Ranma and Ryouga were driving down the road in their newly acquired tow truck hauling Ranma's Chevy. "You know Ranma… We could have just paid the $80 to get it out of the impound…"

"Yeah, $80 of MY money. I'm cheap Ryouga and look, we got ourselves another truck at no extra charge."

"Ranma… This thing isn't exactly inconspicuous. I think people will notice. I also think that you shouldn't have beaten up that poor guy, he was just doing his job."

"Tow truck drivers are the scum of the universe Ryouga. They litter, speed, and break many other traffic laws for the soul purpose of preventing a parking violation. They feed off of the innocent people whom hardly know what they have done wrong and then they make these poor people pay a fine, and for what? Exiting their vehicle in a completely innocent manner to do some meager task of some kind and return to their vehicle to drive off to another location where the process is repeated. It's an outrage."

"Ranma! That's a stolen truck we're hauling! And you are driving another stolen truck to haul it! You beat the living daylights out of that poor guy doing his job! You just didn't feel like walking and you know it!"

"As true as that may be, you cannot deny the fact that we now have two trucks instead of one."

"You sound like Nabiki!"

"That's cold man… I was just thinking in advance."

"In advance for what?"

"When I start hauling cars away."

"YOU HAVN'T BEEN LISTENING TO ME!"

"Geez, you don't have to yell in my ear. One of my friends likes to make Frankenstein cars, and I can't take that away from her after asking her to come all the way down here to help me."

"We are still trying to find Akane right?"

"Yes, geez! She's top priority, but as I said before we can't just walk up to Garino and ask where she is. We need a plan and these guys are gonna help us. The least I can do is thank them and get them a small gift."

"A STOLEN TRUCK IS NOT A GIFT!"

"I wish this thing had a working radio…"

"YOU WILL NOT TUNE ME OUT AGAIN!"

"I can still hope can't I?"

"BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! WORDS! WORDS! WORDS!"

'I'm gonna kill him…' As Ranma thought this to himself, he caught something out of the corner of his eye way off in the distant. His head shot to the side and he laid on the brakes. Ryouga almost whacked his head on the dashboard as the tires squealed and was getting ready to hit Ranma.

"Hey! What's the big idea?"

"What the hell is that Ryouga?" Ranma pointed out the window and down a few streets.

"That? It's the Casino, why?"

"There's a Casino here now?"

"Yeah… What's so great about a Casino?"

Ranma looked up and yanked the sun visor off the roof and proceeded to hit Ryouga with hit. "You idiot! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Don't hit me ya fuck stick!" Ryouga started flailing his arms back at Ranma getting a quick smack jab in every so often. After they heard the car behind them honk they stopped and when back to somewhat normal. "What's so great about a casino anyways?"

"If I would have known, I would have gotten employed there and wouldn't be stripping right now!"

"Oh… Still what's so great about a casino?"

"High rollers man. Those high up connections you really want. Think about the financing I could get from a casino."

"Yeah you're right… You could have just paid that guy instead of stealing this thing…"

"You don't see the bigger picture do you…?"

"Oh, no. I see it alright…" Ryouga tore off his sun visor and started beating Ranma with it. "YOU JUST SHOULD HAVE ASKED BEFORE BEATING ME WITH ONE OF THESE!"

The truck rocked back and forth the rest of the way back. Upon exiting the truck the two were covering in scratches and bruises. Before they entered the gate a hand grabbed Ranma's and pulled him away. It was one of Jerry's boys, Jerico with all the tattoos on his face. He kept a secretive tone and spoke quietly. "Hey! Someone is in there waiting for ya."

"Yeah I know."

"You brought visitors into Jerry's territory? He's gonna be pissed!"

"I'll still be out of here in two days, that and you can tell her I found what I'm looking for, it just a matter of getting it."

Jerico scratched his head. "Oh, you found her too?"

"Yeah, I heard a guy named Jasper was holding her, I just don't have a location."

"Well, we do. She's living and working at the Jade Garden Hotel. It may not be the right girl, but the name matches."

"Sounds a bit too simple… Anything suspicious about her?"

Jerico rolled that around for a moment and came up with, "Not really. Short hair, crabby, and working the blackjack table."

"Sounds like her, but if she was there all along… Where was she before Ryouga?"

"She was working at a shitty little dinner, for a guy named Rodney. I asked him where she went, but she just didn't show up for work, that's when I started asking around."

"What about her place?"

"It was vandalized and it looked like a big fight broke out, but I've already asked around at the Casino…"

"Something's defiantly up."

Jerico put his hands up. "Hey, I just came to relay a message to you, don't shoot the messenger."

Ranma put his hands on his hips. "Yeah, I know. Who came about this info?"

"Toru did. I went to verify it myself, and sure enough there was a girl claiming to be Akane Tendo working there. I got close enough to see her name tag, but didn't want to look suspicious with a million question."

"Ok… Don't worry Jerico. If it's a miss I won't come after you guys. Don't take this the wrong way, but I've got bigger fish to fry."

"Jerry's on your side as long as you're his guest. I won't tell him about your friends, but if he asks me I'll bring it up, so be prepared for a personal visit."

"Yeah, yeah I know."

"Ok, I'm outta here. I'll keep looking around for any other girls with the same name."

"Thanks."

When Jerico was gone Ryouga leaned over towards Ranma and raised a question. "Why do they keep-"

"Referring to Jerry as a guy?"

"Yeah…"

"She's in charge of all those guys, so probably some time after they finally figured out that they couldn't fuck her, they tried tuning her out by looking at her as a guy."

"Weird."

"That and she probably a hardcore lesbian."

"I got that impression too…"

"It's too bad. With a body like that…"

"Yeah… HEY! Don't make me agree with you!"

"I suppose that's what made you cheat on Akane…"

"Don't bring that up!"

"I'm just bugging you. How many time did you get mallet-ed?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Are you two coming in any time soon? We're hungry…" Said a woman's voice from within.

They walked into the front yard to find three people sitting on the steps to the dojo. They all have a smile of some sort on their faces. The one smile that stood out the most though was the one belonging to the dirty blonde chick in army camo pants and a skintight black tank top. Short hair and defiantly a hotty. Ryouga was caught off guard when she ran to Ranma, jumped up on him, wrapped her legs around his waist and lip-locked him. Ranma fell backwards with wide eyes and tried his best to push her off. "Ahh! Sheela! Stop!"

She let go of him and gave him a pat on the chest. "I love making you feel uncomfortable."

Ranma picked himself up as the two guys on the steps gave applause. "Shut up guys! And I told you not to do that Sheela!"

"Well maybe I'd stop if you got me a gift…"

"I did. They're parked out side."

"Oooooo! Two?"

"Yup."

"Thanks sweetie." She gave him a peck on the cheek, walked off with a wave and closed the gate behind her.

Ryouga gave Ranma a look and said, "I though Sheela was your name by night?"

"It's a long story… Let me introduce you to these guys."

One of the guys' names was Hikori and the other one was Zero. Hikori was tall, thin and had this sly smirk on his face that made him look like a real weasel. Ranma didn't mention his area of specialties, but then again maybe he didn't, or maybe Ranma just didn't want to sound like a James Bond film, but as it stood this guy was some how useful and could get a job done. Zero on the other hand was a short nerd from America and had probably been beat up several times and had his lunch money stolen. This guy did have a specialty though. He was the wiz kid with the computer skills and the brainpower to back it up. It eventual came out that he shouldn't be living there in Japan, but after leaving for an Otaku convention the plane left without him and he was broke, however he seemed to be doing good for himself now. The girl out side currently pulling apart the trucks was Sheela. One of those weird funky chicks that's really good at what ever it is she does. It was obvious that she had a serious thing for Ranma, but it was unclear as to what it was. Ryouga got to know every one and soon decided that to a degree they all pissed him off. They were just down right annoying. Hikori was loud with a screechy laugh that echoed for blocks, Zero was in a constant pursuit to sound smart by using huge words combined with old medieval Shakespeare quotes. He was essentially a smart Kuno with no form of combat experience. Hell he couldn't even find the strength in his arms to pull off his own loosely tied shoes and he proved this on more then one occasion. Ryouga couldn't really give a full evaluation of Sheela because she was either unseen underneath a car asking you for shit every time you passed by, or else she was hanging off Ranma to get a rise out of him, or doing something highly random and unexpected. The only way you could describe her would be to say spontaneous, but cute.

Every one was sitting out on the porch after a long talk of catching up on good old times and other various forms of deadwood speech. Ranma was getting ready to check out the casino for Akane, but he had the problem of Sheela sitting on his lap. "C'mon… I have to go Sheela…"

She just stayed comfortable and relaxed in his lap with a large smile on her face. "Not until you tell me where you're going."

"But I'll regret it if I do…"

Ryouga had been listening to this go on for close to five minutes now and he was getting pissed again. "He's going to the casino!"

Her eyes shot open and her smile turned into a grin. "There's a casino?"

"Good one Ryouga…"

Hikori shook his head and gave Ryouga's shoulder a tap. "She's got a horrible gambling problem bud."

"I don't care! Just go!"

Zero gave an observation of the scene and gave a statement. "I rebound Hikori's concern and concur with his theory. One should have been better off to keep one's mouth closed in such a situation as delicate as this. In turn she'll now take Ranma's wallet and make it a few ounces lighter."

Zero was right on target with that one as Sheela had already started patting him down for his wallet and grabbing him in questionable manners. "H-Hey! Knock it off!"

"Ahh yes, true lovers if I've ever seen them. Their abilities to gamble are equal, however I must admit that Ranma is wiser just to stay away."

Ryouga's eye twitched as he listened to Zero's voice and blew up at him. "YOU GO TOO!"

"As much as I'd love to gamble away my misfortunes away, I am unhappy to announce that my capitol is… how should I put this? Sub par."

"What the hell did you just say?"

Zero adjusted his glasses and let out a breath. "I'm broke."

Ryouga threw a wad of bills at him and pointed towards the gate. "GO!"

"My thanks faithful warrior."

"LEAVE!" With that Zero got up with a smile and waited at the front gate for Ranma.

Hikori nudged Ryouga's again and spoke softly. "Try to go easy on him bud. I know he's a bit annoying, but he's a good guy."

Ryouga looked like he was getting ready to cry as he looked over his shoulder at Hikori. "I… I know… I just… I want to kill him when ever he opens his mouth…"

"Yeah, I know, but that'll pass within a week. You just sort of learn to tune out what he's saying and after two weeks you'll be able to decipher what the words mean."

As Ryouga looked up he saw Ranma running after a laughing Sheela holding his wallet high. "Hey! Get back here! You're not going to the casino!"

Ryouga had to ask Hikori when the three were gone. "Did those two ever… You know…"

Hikori shook his head with a half smile. "Nope. She just likes bugging him."

"I don't get it…"

"She defiantly likes him and I think they were fuck buddies for a while, but Ranma always said he couldn't get over a girl he left here."

Ryouga scratched his head. "Wow… That's kind of deep. I guess."

"Just so you know. The only reason she's down here is to help Ranma find his girl. She's a real romantic you know?"

"It looks like she's trying to get romantic with him though."

"Nah. She'd never commit to any one. She really likes playing match maker."

"I see."

"So, you got anything to eat around here?"

Ryouga pointed over to the mini fridge parked in the middle of the burnt out living room. "Knock yourself out."

Ranma and Sheela stood out side the Jade Garden Hotel and Zero had buggered off on his own. Sheela had her arms wrapped around Ranma as the walked in. He couldn't help but look angry and sweat. "Do you always have to latch onto me?"

"Of coarse! I wanna play the slot machine!"

"Sure, but I've got a date at the blackjack table first."

"Ooo! Sounds hot. Watcha bettin'?"

"The farm."

Sheela unhooked herself from Ranma and took a step back with a quirky little smile. "You didn't come here to gamble, so who ya looking for?"

"You know exactly who I'm looking for…"

"She's here?"

"That's what I've heard."

"Yay! I finally get to meet her! The girl that beat me to your heart. I have to warn you though… I might become insanely jealous…"

"You might not want to be around when I talk to her."

Sheela's smile slowly faded "What? Hey, you know I'm just bugging you right?"

Ranma leaned in close to her ear as the passed by a wall of lights. "Listen to me very carefully. I think this might have been a trap set up for me. Two guys are already trailing me, so I think I've been flagged."

She whispered into his ear as well making it look like lovers exchanging sweet nothings. "You think I'm gonna just sit by and watch you screw up sweetie? I'm here to help remember? I'll throw them off and talk to her myself, just tell me where to go."

"I can't put you into that kind of position. I don't want you getting flagged too." As Ranma said that he looked over at all the blackjack tables to see his long lost Akane cleaning off the table and getting ready to leave. "Shit there she is…"

"Leave it to me!" She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and went off to the blackjack table.

"Sheela! No! Damnit…!" Ranma gave up and positioned himself against a wall and pulled out a black book to start writing in. He needed to throw people off.

Sheela walked over to the empty blackjack table and put sat down. Akane gave her a look and apologized. "Sorry, but I'm closing up for now. Some one will be back here in a few minutes."

Sheela smiled at her and said. "You're cute."

Akane was a bit taken back by the comment and shook it off. "S-sorry, but I'm not interested in women."

Sheela put rested her head in her hands and kept looking at Akane with a dreamy look. "Oh, I know. I just see why Ranma couldn't let you go."

Akane stopped for a second and pulled out some cards. "Up for a quick game?"

"Sure."

Akane made a quick shuffle and tried not to look suspicious. "If you're looking for him I have no idea where he is. You people can't keep threatening me like this. I don't know what else to say, so go tell Jasper for the hundredth time that I don't know where he is and I'd never tell you if I did."

"You're beautiful and fiery. You must be thinking of some one else because if you look over my shoulder to your left, he's standing right over there."

Akane lifted her eyes for a moment and saw her long lost Ranma, but she quickly looked away and her breathing stopped for a short second. She leaned down and started placing cards quickly. "Get him out of here. For gods sake get him out of here."

Sheela kept the mirage of playing a game up by making the hand motion for a 'hit me.' "What's wrong?"

Akane gave her a card bringing Sheela to 18. "They're going to kill him if he stays here! He has to leave before they spot him. Jasper wants him dead."

"I think it's too late for that…"

"They saw him?"

"Yeah…"

"Go over to him and tell him to run." Sheela made another 'hit me' motion bringing her to 23. "I don't care if you're his new fiancé of what ever, just get him out of here and protect him. Please, do this for me." Sheela nodded and left her chips on the table.

She walked quickly over to Ranma and started dragging him out. "We have to go."

"No shit?" Once at the entrance to the hotel the two were stopped at the front doors by a line of four large men. Two had guns ready in their hands and the other two had nightsticks. "Hey boys, how can I help ya?"

One of the men with a gun asked politely. "Mr. Saotome?"

Ranma smile and held Sheela close. "You must have mistaken me for some one else."

"Maybe, but I think the boss would like to have a word with you."

"I'm sure he would…" Ranma swiped Sheela off her feet and ran back into the main gambling hall. Three followed while one with a gun stayed at the entrance.

An alarm went off and every one was told to get down. About 300 bodies hit the floor but one stayed up throwing his companion behind a counter with his ex-fiancé. Sheela smiled at Akane gave a small wave. "Hiya. As you can see we didn't get out."

Akane started panicking and was getting ready to cry. "Oh, god! He's gonna be killed!"

Sheela smiled again pointed over at Ranma as he ran all across the floor with a new guard coming out every so often. Hotel security was dead set on catching him. "I don't think you've met the new Ranma yet. You should really watch this, it's sooo cool."

Shots started being fired and Akane pointed and yelled at her. "How is this cool? They're shooting at him!"

"Yeah, but he's the luckiest guy I've ever met, this is exactly what attracted me to him."

Ranma dodged a bullet as he leaped behind a row of slot machines. Sparks flew out of it as the bullet passed through the lights inside. Another threat made itself apparent as a man came at him with a nightstick and almost smoked him in the face. Ranma dodged the swing and kicked the guy in the face as he got up and started running again. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Ranma rolled over a roulette table as another guy came at him with a bottle of pepper spray and got a bit on Ranma's face. "OW! HOT!" Ranma yanked the wheel out of the table and whacked the guy with it. Another suit was a bit of a distance away and pulled out a taser. Ranma saw the barbed prongs shoot out and panicked. In an instant he picked up the closest person to shield him. Zero yelled as one of the electric nubs shot him in the nipple and preceded to pump energy into him. Ranma dropped Zero and waved his hands not knowing what to do. "Awe crap! Uhh! Sorry!" Ranma threw the roulette wheel like a frisbee and hit the guy with the taser. He started running again jumping over all the people on the floor and that's when more shots were fired. He flipped a table and hid behind it, but as five bullets shot right through it Ranma freaked out again and pulled out his 9mm. He had eleven rounds left in his clip but felt no need to conserve them. He poked his head up and screamed as he got ready to shoot, but there was a shotgun to his face. He screamed again as a blast came close to taking his head off, but when he moved out of the way the gun in his hand was nicked and it flew out. "FUCK!" He grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and muscled it into his own hands. He knocked the guy out with a hard hit with the butt of the gun and when he was down he tried to shoot him but it was out of ammo. "FUCK!" Another guy came at him nightstick and Ranma changed his grip to once again hold it by the barrel and went at him with a fast baseball swing. As the shotgun hit him it let out a shot, which whizzed past and through most of the left side of Ranma's jean jacket. He was unscratched but the suit behind him that was about the shoot him in the head now had a lack of life to worry about now. "FUCK!" Ranma ran over to the bar and soon ten guys were coming at him. Ranma looked around for a quick solution and decided to start picking up the stools and throwing them at the guys furiously. "LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" Once he was out of chairs he jumped behind the counter and started throwing as many bottles of what ever he could find at any one that was standing. Zero once again fell victim to Ranma's blind fury and was now down for the count.

Ranma was running again and Akane couldn't help but stare in disbelief. "He's…"

"Still alive, I know. Isn't it amazing?"

"Shouldn't we help him or something?"

"No! When he starts doing this you just sit and wait for him to take care of every thing."

"Oh, I- Ahh!"

Two suits had grabbed Akane and started rushing her out of the area. "Its not safe here Ms. Tendo, come with us!"

"H-hey! Put me down!"

Sheela stood up and pointed. "Hey! I need her! Give her back!"

One of the guys in black turned around knocked Sheela, square in the face. She went down holding her nose and crying. From across the room Ranma's voice was heard. "YOU FUCKS'!" A trail of destroyed slot machines and tables were broken as Ranma rushed to the rescue. He checked out Sheela but she pointed him to find Akane. He did so and rushed around a corner, but when he went around his reflexes took over when he saw five guys with uzies. "FUCK!" They all fired at once but Ranma gave the garbage can beside him a kick sending it flying towards them and he ducked behind the wall as the swarm of bullets passed by him. "JESUS! DAMN! FUCK!" Sheela managed to catch up with him and started pulling him towards the entrance again.

"Lets go!"

"But Akane-!"

"She's not going anywhere! Move before we die!" She booted Ranma's ass towards the door and they both started running again.

As they ran past all the tables Ranma stopped for a second and looked around. "Oh, why the fuck not?" He started pulling out cash boxes from each cash only table he passed by while keeping up with Sheela. The one guy holding the fort at the entrance was catch off guard when a cash box flew at him and pinned him in the face. As he fell down Ranma ran pasted, grabbed the box off his face and the gun out of his hand. "Fucker!"

Once they were out front they heard sirens coming in close and Sheela gave him a wide-eyed look. "And our get away vehicle?"

Ranma gave her an angry look and yelled. "Well if you didn't tear out the engine in the truck then we wouldn't have had to walk here and we'd have one now!"

"It's not my fault!"

"Yes it is Sheela! Yes it is!" At that moment a flashy black BMW convertible pulled up waiting for she valet parking. "Perfect!"

Moments later there was a man on the ground holding his head and a pair of black tire marks beside him. Before the police even arrived Ranma and Sheela were long gone and they were heading to the only place he could think was safe for now. "You're about to meet a new friend of mine."

"Ooo! Is he cute."

"She's hot."

"I'll take it any way I can get it."

"I know…"

"Sorry about Akane, but I couldn't get her back in time."

"Don't worry about it, at least I know she's alive."

Sheela smiled as the wind rushed through her hair. "So do I get to keep this thing?"

"I was thinking about giving it to Jerry is she wanted it. Sorry, but she's gonna be pissed when I show up."

"Oh, don't worry I understand." She reached over and planted her lips against his. "I love you…"

Ranma pulled himself away and felt that sweat coming on. "S-sorry…"

"Hey, I'm just playing with ya. I'm just glad you're alive."

Ranma reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Sorry to drag you into this…"

"You know Ranma… You were the first one who didn't look at me like some sort of sex object the first time we met. I thought you were just playing it cool, but as it turned out you just wanted to be my friend. It was such a liberating feeling, it just made me want to kiss you."

"Why can't you be like this all the time?"

"I just feel really comfortable around you. I know that no matter how many times we kiss and screw it'll never turn into anything serious. I also know that as soon as you get her back you'll be happy, and for the guy that made me this happy I'll do anything."

"That sounds weird…"

"It's complicated, but if you want to know the truth I wouldn't mind a three way with you two."

As she waved her eyebrows with a grin on her face Ranma got that nervous smile on his face and pushed her away. "Ya bloody nympho! You had this all planned from the beginning!"

"I was a joke you moron."

"I often wonder about you!"

"I'm doing this because you're my best friend and I'm sure if there was a some one out there I was looking for you'd help me too."

"Yeah, yeah…"

"Oh, hey! Can you do me a favor? I've always wanted to do something."

"What?"

"Floor it!"

"Ok." Ranma put the gas all the way down and brought the car up the 120km/h

Sheela reached into one of the cash boxes and pulled out a huge handful of cash. She threw it into the air with her hands high and watched the bills line out as they flew in a long line towards the road. Ranma just smiled and shook his head. "You're crazy."

She turned up the radio and said, "I know."

(Elvis - Viva Las Vegas)


	6. Highway Star

Highway Star

Ranma was busy with Sheela in a small office tending to her smacked up face awaiting Jerry's more then likely pissed off return. She had a scratch and a large red imprint across her left side, but generally it wasn't all that bad. Sheela was toughing it out when out of nowhere Jerry came blasting into the room with a completely monotone look on her face. "One: I'd kill you if I didn't need your help right now, and two: That car better be at my disposal."

Ranma looked at her and responded quickly. "Whaddaya need and yes it is."

"Good. Bring your girlfriend too, we need as many people as possible."

Sheela smiled at Jerry and asked. "What's happening?"

Jerry motioned them to the BMW and got made her way to the passenger side. "Some last minute hijacking work that needs to be done ASAP. I'll fill you in when you get that thing moving."

Ranma opened the driver's side door and Sheela jumped into the back of the convertible. "So what're we stealin'?"

Jerry put on a pair of shades and pointed out the door. "That there is none of your business sweetheart."

"So how do we know what to steal?"

Ranma drove the car off onto the road and passed a glance back at her. "She said hijacking. So how big is the vehicle we're taking?"

"It's a full size semi and trailer."

Sheela hung over the seat and gave Ranma's shoulders a rub. "Full size, huh? Think we can handle it babe?"

"Don't ask silly questions babe."

Jerry pointed to the highway coming up. "Sounds like you two have done this before."

Ranma counted quickly in his head and said, "Twelve times actually. Me and her can actually do this on our own."

Jerry shook her head. "Oh, I doubt that. Me and my boys have a hard enough time with all of us working together."

Sheela put a hand on Jerry's shoulder and looked ahead. "Oh, there's a trick to it."

"Mind filling me in here?"

Ranma scratched an itch and said. "It's easier to watch. Do we have contact with the others?"

Jerry pulled out a walky-talky and handed it to Ranma. "We'll do it your way, just because I'm interested, but if we lose that truck you're a dead man."

"I'll keep that in mind." Ranma brought the walky-talky close to his mouth and spoke into it. "Hey, Jerico. You there?"

The thing crackled few times and a familiar voice came over. "Ranma? Hey, how's it going? Word about the casino shoot out has already spread so I assume you found your girl."

"Yeah I did and thanks for that, so here's how I'm repaying you. I'm stealing that truck for ya."

The radio crackled again a few times and a concerned voice came over again. "What, you want us to back off or something?"

"No, I'll just do the dirty work, so here's the plan."

"I'm all ears. Is every one listening?"

Various voices came over each saying 'check', 'rodger' or 'S'up bitch!' Ranma pushed down the button on the side again and spoke into the device. "Ok, now listen up pin-dicks. How many cars do we have?"

Jerico came over the speaker again. "Six including yours."

"Right, I want two of you guys to get in close to the front of the truck. One right in front and the other on the left. Get the truck into the right lane ASAP."

Jerico came on again. "Did you hear that guys? Clint and Toru, you guys are on it."

Two 'Rodger's came over the speaker and Ranma commanded the other three. "Ok, now the rest of you guys are to get as much traffic away from that truck as possible and when I'm aboard I want all you cocks to break away and get to where ever you need to go, it'll get dangerous so just stay the fuck away."

"Ok we're on it, just don't fuck up man. We need this cargo."

"I know my nuts are on the line as well." Ranma threw the radio over to Jerry and asked. "How much time till the truck is off the highway?"

"Not long at all. Ten minutes max I say. It's a rush job so we're kind of unorganized."

"And which way is it heading?"

"West."

"Right." Ranma laid on the breaks and spun the car into a ninety-degree angle. He saw a guy breaking hard on a motorcycle and come up beside them giving them the finger. "Perfect. You know the drill Sheela."

"Do I ever!" She jumped out and flew at the guy feet first and quickly became the new owner of the bike.

Ranma pointed to her out the side. "I'll meet you there in five minutes. I passed a construction crew one fifth avenue this morning so grab some cones."

"I know, I know." With that she spun the back tire and was off at an alarming speed.

"Interesting… I can't wait to see how this turns out."

Ranma cranked the wheel around and sped off in his desired direction. "SNAFU."

"Same as normal. All fucked up. Yeah, you can put it that way."

Ranma weaved in and out of traffic quickly closing in on the truck. He spotted his teammates in no time and was on the radio again. "Now remember ass-hats. You're not here to hijack a truck, you're all going to see your mom and just so happening to be boxing in a truck in an innocent manner."

A new voice came on the mic. "Yeah, funny shit man. This cargo's gonna pay for our food so don't fuck up."

"Yes, dear." Ranma got off the radio and looked at Jerry. "So where's this shit going?"

"Back to our warehouse."

"Isn't that a bit risky?"

"We'll tear that metal hunk of shit apart to the point of FUBAR, just worry about getting it back."

"Fucked up beyond all recognition, anything breakable inside the cargo hold?"

"It can be roughed up a little, but not too much."

"Ok, I'll be careful. Sheela should be back in a second so it'll be ours in about three minutes."

Jerry passed him a smile and asked with an interested tone. "What's she going to do? And why did she get cones?"

"It's for my turning radius. I'm going to have to get into the opposite lane to get back right?"

"Yeah, but why don't you just go around the loop at the end?"

"It better if we get that thing home fast, it's a bit risky if we keep that thing on the road for long."

"Fine, you're in charge, but I've never had to deal with cops."

"Maybe, but I plan on leaving the driver alive."

Jerry laughed a little. "Oh, ok there's the defining difference in our methods."

"Thought so, and here comes Sheela."

Sheela zipped by on the opposite lane and pulled a one-eighty in the middle of five-lane traffic. "Crazy girlfriend you got there…"

"Thanks." Just as Ranma said that she pulled up beside the car with the wind blowing hard on her hair.

"All done up ahead, I say you've got two minutes to get that thing."

"Right, get ready."

Sheela jumped off the bike and into the back of the convertible as the bike sparked away in the middle of the highway sending cars side ways and stopping to avoid the stray bike. "Any time you wanna go sweat pea."

"Now!" Right when Ranma gave the signal he grabbed the window and rolled himself over and onto the hood. Sheela did the same from behind but took the drivers seat with out missing a beat. Ranma waved for the radio and Jerry handed it to him over the windshield. The strong flow of air muffled Ranma's voice as he yelled to Sheela. "Bring me in close and break hard!"

"Done!" She came in close enough to kiss the backend of the truck and as she hit the brakes Ranma jumped off and grabbed the hooks and handles on the back and started climbing up. He held on with one hand and yelled into the radio. "Hey! Who's up front?"

A voice came over. "Me and Toru. What do you need?"

"You fuck-sticks are going too fast! I need this guy to slow down!"

"We're on it." Ranma put the radio between his teeth and pulled himself up and onto the roof when he felt the speed decrease.

"The fucking shit I do for people!" He crawled across the roof of the cargo unit and made his way to the top of the cab. "Sheela how much time do I got?" Ranma waited for a response when he suddenly realized that he took the radio. "FUCK!" The only option left was to go flying in balls first. He slid down on the driver's side and punched through the window as quick as he could. He was on target and got a clean shot on his face and sent him into a daze. Ranma opened the door, unfastened the driver's seat belt and gave him a few more shots to keep him down. Before the poor bastard could do any thing Ranma wrapped the guys arm with the seat belt and threw him out the side, letting him dangle off the truck without hitting the road. "Sorry bud, but this is business." The man screamed as Sheela drove the car up close beside him and Jerry knocked him out with the butt of her gun and followed up by pulling him into the back seat. Ranma waved to them as he closed the door and leaned out the window for another shout. "Ok, get the fuck out of here, I'll meet you all back at the warehouse." They nodded and Sheela hit the bakes swinging the car around with perfection and into the opposite lane. Ranma brought the radio close to his mouth and said, "Hey Sheela, can you- FUCK!" He hit the radio against the dashboard a few times and went back to it. "Hey Jerico. I need you guys to go on cop-watch and tell me where they are, I'm about to do something illegal."

Jerico's voice came over the speaker. "Sure thing man, we got you covered."

"Good, now every one get the hell out of my way and get as many cars away from me as possible."

Clint's voice came on this time. "We're on it."

Ranma saw the cones in the distance and started getting a feel for the huge semi. "Fuck… I might not make it…" Ranma got on the radio again. "Hey, any of you guys driving any thing big?"

"We aren't but your friends are."

"Who?"

Ryouga's voice was heard over the box moments later. "They came and got us a while ago, but we've just been dead weights."

"Good, is Hikori with you?"

"I'm here. I got the tow truck and he's got your truck."

Ranma smiled. "Perfect. I got a heavy load and I need to turn this hunk of shit, so you get the dangerous job Hikori."

"Fine with me." Ranma took a peek into his side mirror as Hikori came up on the inside of the semi and positioned himself close to the wheels.

"Awesome. Ryouga, you take the outside and when I say now, I want you to ram the truck into my rear wheels, and Hikori will hold the thing up."

"Are you sure, you want me to do this?"

"Don't get your he-kini in a twist, you're a natural and you've got the easy job, now get ready. Oh, yeah when I start turning slam that thing into second gear and get as much acceleration out of it as you can, this has got to be fast."

"Ok…"

Ranma shift up into the next gear and started speeding up as the cones came into clearer vision. "Ready…" Ranma tightened his grip on the steering wheel and got ready to make a hard left. "Three…" Ranma put in the clutch and got ready to go down five gears. "Two…" Ryouga focused on the four wheels beside him and got ready to break hard to the right. "One…" Every one tensed including the ones listening in on the radio. "GO!" Ranma forced the gears down, hit the brakes, turned sharp and spun his tires. Ryouga forced the Chevy against the rear wheels with a pull out to the left and a hard reentry to the right smashing the truck against the tires sending the cargo unit into a quick slide. Hikori felt Ryouga's hit and turned softly to the left to let the semi slide him around as he guided it and kept it from tipping. White smoke burned off from every one's tires, as the roar of the wheels became the only sound heard on the highway. Jerico, Clint, and Toru all watched in amazement with their passengers as a full size semi plus cargo did a 180 degree turn in the middle of the highway following the cones set between all the painted lines as a boarder for them to follow. Ranma shifted down again as he started facing the direction he wanted and yelled into the radio. "Ryouga! Keep pushing!" Ryouga's ears twitched when he heard the voice and he himself dropped it down one more gear and let the engine beneath his hood scream out in raw fury giving it that final burst of barbaric rage to push on hard as well as lift his front end a little. He yelled with the truck as it pushed giving it all he had. The cargo hold started evening out with rest of the semi and that's when Ranma dropped it into first and hit the gas giving his tires a quick chirp as he started accelerating. "FUCK YEAH!" He pulled the mic close to his face again and yelled. "Fucking amazing guys! Now get the hell out of here and watch for the cops!"

Jerico came on the channel again and barked out a response. "You heard em' boys! Get yer ass's movin'!"

Various sporty and speedy looking cars shot off in both directions of the highway leaving nothing but a wavy opening for the semi and a bunch of wide eyed people in their cars. Hikori was the first to pass Ranma and Ryouga followed behind him in short time. Ryouga let his voice flow over the waves. "See ya there man."

"Rodger. Hey Sheela, how's that- FUCK!" Ranma whacked the radio against the dashboard again letting his face turn a bit red. "Clint! Can you tail Jerry's car and toss em' your radio?"

"Sure."

Ranma maneuvered as best he could but in a truck that big it was hard not to side swipe people as he passed them. After a few moments a voice came over the waves. "Hey fuck head. Cops coming your way with lights flashing."

"How long till they reach me?"

"How the fuck should I know? They'll be coming from your front."

"Thanks." Seconds passed and Ranma could hear the sirens coming in and that's when Jerry's voice came on.

"What did you need?"

"How's the driver?"

"Tied up."

"Ok, can I get some help with these cops?"

"And what would you like us to do? Ask for fucking directions? I got a record you idiot! Deal with em' yourself!"

"Fuck you Jerry! Sheela! Do something will ya?"

Sheela's voice came over the channel. "Look sweetie, she's got a gun and is therefore calling the shots, if you don't mind the pun."

"Fine! I'll do it my way!" Ranma chucked the walkie-talkie against the windshield and it rebounded into the passenger seat. "God damn, shit fucking, cock sucking, fuck faces!" Ranma watched as the traffic in both lanes pulled off to the side of the road leaving a straight line for him. "Wait a fucking minute…" Ranma slowed down with the rest of the traffic and pulled himself off to the side to let the wide line of police cars rush by him and all the others. He waited and watched in his side view mirror as they went off full blast down the highway. "My god… I can't believe that worked…" The sirens faded off into the distance and he merged with the rest of the traffic doing the speed limit. "Oookaaaayyy. That was new… Me one; The Fuzz zip…"

Sheela came on the speaker moments after. "Jerry had a change of heart cutie. We're on our way over."

Ranma sighed as he picked up the radio. "Never mind, we're done."

"They got the cargo?" Jerry's voice rang over the speaker like a megaphone to Ranma's ear.

Ranma yelled back. "No ya mean dyke! I got the shit, and they're out of the way, so get yer ass's back home!"

"Oh thank god…"

"Yeah, I'm fine Jerry. Thanks for asking… Oh, no don't thank me I didn't do a whole lot… Just stole a semi and risked life an limb for you, nothing major…" At least a few guys were laughing at Ranma's comments, he just didn't know it.

Back at base almost right when he put on the parking brake people were all over the semi tearing it apart. "Jesus tittie-fucking Christ! At least wait for me to get out of this fucking thing." He gave the truck a kick on his way out and met Ryouga half way to a chair. "Hey man, thanks for that shit, couldn't have done it with out ya."

Ryouga still seemed a little freaked out by the events but was gathering his wits quickly "Really?"

"Yeah man, it takes some serious balls to pull off a stunt like that. You're a certified Rambo McManly in my books."

"Th-thanks. I guess." The two sat down at the table and cracked open a couple of beers. "So you found Akane?"

Ranma took a sip and nodded. "Yeah, but she was there as bait to get to me, I'm just wondering how they knew I was going to be there so quickly."

Sheela came up and pulled up a chair as well sitting in it backwards with her arms crossed on the backrest. "I'm not too sure about that myself. It sounds like they've been looking for you for a while now."

Ranma let Sheela take his beer and he went on. "Maybe, but what's with the grudge all of a sudden? You'd think I'd be just another punk kid to him, by the amount of force they used to get me, it's like I put his balls through a meat grinder or something."

Sheela waved that through her head. "Are you sure you didn't?"

"What do ya mean?"

Ryouga joined in on this one. "Maybe you did piss him off and just don't know it."

"Well I don't have a damn clue what I could have done to him."

Sheela humored them. "Maybe it was one of our jobs recently?"

Ranma nodded. "Could be, but I can't see why he'd risk casino business over a few dirty dealings out side of this city. No this is personal on some level. Akane being alive pretty much proves it."

Ryouga passed him a funny look. "What do you mean? Are you saying it's a bad thing she's alive?"

"Cool you jets there big guy and open your ears." Every one looked up to see Jerry coming over to take over the final seat. "I'd love to hear how you managed to piss off the head honcho around here."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say I know why, but with Akane being held captive he wants to lure me in. If it wasn't personal she wouldn't have been taken away in the first place and she'd either dead or damn near it."

Jerry nodded in agreement. "It's true… Some one like him wouldn't beat around the bush like this, but now we're at another dilemma…"

Ranma counted down. "Three, two, one."

Jerry slammed her hand on the table and started yelling. "NOW I'M A FUCKING PART OF YOUR MESS SAOTOME! YOU OWE ME YOUR SERVICE! YOU OWE ME MONEY! YOU OWE ME YOUR UN-FUCKING-DIVIDED ATTENTION!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I've danced this dance before…"

"YOU WILL DO THINGS FOR ME THAT'LL KEEP MY ASS ALIVE! YOU WILL SAW OFF YOUR OWN FUCKING DICK IF IT MEANS KEEPING ME OUT OF HARMS WAY."

Yeah, right. Dick off if need be. Anything else? Would you like Ryouga to strip for you while I dismember myself?"

"IF IT'S FUCKING NESSESARY THEN HE WILL! YOU HEAR ME HIBIKI?"

Ryouga stared at her with wide fearful eyes. "Yes ma'am!"

Ranma rubbed his forehead and grabbed his beer back from Sheela. "Are you done?"

Jerry calmed down and smiled. "Yes. Are we clear you three?" They all nodded with Ryouga being the only one really scared by Jerry's outburst. "Good now I've got some cells for you. If I need any one you or your faggoty-ass friends then I'll call you or them personally and you'll drop what ever the fuck it is you are doing and help me. Ok?"

Ranma and Sheela both answered the same. "Yes mom."

"Good. Now take the BMW and get the fuck out of here before I gain some common sense and decide to kill you all."

They all got up and left, but Ranma jacked the igloo cooler as he went. "I don't have any thing to drink at home, so I'm yoinking this."

Jerry reached into her inside pocket and started talking. "Oh, yeah. Here's your cut of the money Saotome. Nice work today, you really knocked every one's socks off out there."

"Thanks." Ranma let the wad of bills land on top of the cooler and left.

The three were back in the convertible watching the sun set over the horizon. "Well, this was an eventful day."

Ryouga nodded at Ranma. "Yeah… Days with you just seem to be more so then others."

"I'll take that as a strange compliment."

Sheela let the wind pass through her fingertips and she drove the car home. "Hey, what happened to the trucks?"

Ryouga reached into the cooler and cracked open another. "Well after your hack-job on them, Hikori and I tried our best to put them back together after you went to the casino and for the most part we did, but after that whole thing on the highway the Chevy pretty much fell apart on me. We pushed that thing into the river and Hikori took the tow truck back, but I doubt it made it all the way back without dying…"

Ranma pointed at him. "Ha! And you thought me taking that thing was a bad idea!"

Ryouga threw his empty can at Ranma and pegged him in the face. "And I still say it was asshole."

"OW! You fuck!"

"Ahh, put your seatbelt back on. I'm not in the mood for a fight."

Ranma stepped down from the seat and sat back down properly. "Well that's new. You not wanting to fight? It's unheard of. I think I'll mark this day on the calendar and celebrate it like my very birth."

"I'm just burnt out, that's all. Besides we've got to go to Boris's club tonight."

Ranma rubbed his head again as he remembered Boris. "In that case I need another beer. Well actually we don't have to go, but I've got to tell Nabiki I found Akane."

Sheela smile. "Oooo. I can't wait to see you in action."

"Oh, please fuck off… It's embarrassing enough with Ryouga there…"

"But you've never stripped for me…"

Ranma crossed his arms and put on his mad face. "Yes I have!"

"Not when you're a girl."

Ranma sunk into his seat. "Yeah, and I was planning on keeping it that way."

Another can hit Ranma's head but this time it was full. "I don't want to hear about you and your perverted antics!"

"Ow! That's it!" Ranma tore the seat belt off and lunged at Ryouga.

Sheela looked into the rear view mirror with a smile and watched them for a moment. "Awe. They're so cute together."

"DIE YOU FUCKING SON OF A FUCK!"

"EAT SHIT CUNT BAG!"

Sheela pulled a Ranma by smiling, cranking the stereo, and flooring it. 'Oh those two are so brotherly… I wonder what he's like in the sac?' Sheela's smile turned into a full blown grin as she eyed up the enraged Ryouga fighting off Ranma.

Deep Purple - Highway Star  
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Author's note: First and foremost, I know the roads are reversed in Japan so don't mention that in a review, please. I'm just too lazy to fix it. Next, sorry about the two week wait, I'll try and knock off a new chapter at the end of every week so check back around Friday-Sunday, I won't post during the work week because I just don't have time. Have fun and party hard. Lastly, I know some smart ass is going to mention the reversed roads some where and chances are I'm going to turn green and double in body mass, so if you see something like that smash through your nieghborhood, please call an insurance office and let me finish my rampage until I revert back to normal and stop refering to myself as 'Hulk'.


	7. China Girl

China Girl

Ranma wanted to cover up so badly as Sheela watched her strip from front row. Sheela had managed to snag a cowboy hat from some guy she beat in a shooter-drinking contest and was now swinging it out for Ranma to grab. Ranma eventually complied and put the hat on as she went onto her knees and waved her hips in a questionable horse riding style, which seemed to score points with Sheela. Sheela got off her stool and lifted her pitcher of beer high while whistling for more. The crowed joined in with her and Ranma's eye twitch with a fake smile just below. 'Why does she do this to me? Oh yeah, it's because I'm god's little hackie-sac that's why. I hate my life…' Ryouga was dogging it tonight and taking things slow. One of the times he came back he had an ice pack to his head and had a couple stitches on his cheek when he left. Ranma kicked high as she watched Ryouga leave with a sour look on his face. 'Someone got ya bad? Geez, what's holding you back man?' For a quick moment Boris walked passed the bar with his face bright red with anger. He wasn't mad at Ryouga, but something else still floating around in the air. Ranma finished up and went in to investigate. She walked back stage and followed behind Boris at a safe distance so not be noticed too much, but luck was never on Ranma's side.

Boris turned around with his head bowed and looked up in time to see Ranma. "Sheela? Hey how's it going babe?" His face lightened up a bit when he saw her and he was more then likely going for a false front, so Ranma played it safe with her airhead approach.

"Hey, what's wrong B.B? You looked all mad out there."

Boris waved it off and put an arm around her and unknown to him Ranma thought of 32 ways she could kill him right then and there. "Don't you worry about me missy, I'm fine. Just some business that's giving me a headache."

"Oh… I guess I can't help…"

Boris smiled started walking with her. "Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'm sure you can help me."

"Oh, but B.B! I'm a one man girl."

Boris brushed away his hopes and put up an innocent front. "You don't think I'm like that do ya? I just want you there for company, you know as my confidants at this little meeting I have to go to."

Ranma went straight into her head after hearing that. 'He's in shit and needs a meat shield…' Ranma nodded and smiled. "I can be there for ya B.B."

Boris let his hand slide down to her ass and he put a firm lock on it. Little did he know that he just gave Ranma an excuse to execute those 32 methods of killing, but she managed to keep her cool with stiff step to her pace. "Thanks babe."

Ranma remained oddly silent as they entered into a room and sat on a pink inflatable couch. 'Good god this it tacky…' "I love the couch B.B."

Boris smiled. "Isn't it wonderful?"

After too much small talk a man came through the door and dear lord was he familiar. His back was turned and he was talking to some one outside the room. "Oy! I wouldn't fucking do her with yer dick an em' pushing anyways ya fucking tosser! Probably be like throwing a fucking hotdog down a hallway anyways, ya catch me drift?" Paul's eyes went wide for a second and he shut the door quickly. "Fuck me he's coming this way."

Boris laughed as Paul walked over and plopped down on the couch across from the two. "Having trouble with the ladies again?"

"Fuck you. Who's the slut?"

Boris kept his arm around Ranma and introduced her. "This here is Sheela, she's that new girl with the killer talent I've been telling you about."

"Well she's defiantly a looker isn't she? You look familiar love. Have we met before?"

Ranma shook her head. "If we did, it was probably an utterly shitty experience." Both Boris and Paul looked at her for a moment with raised eyebrows as Ranma realized that one came out by accident. "Uhhh… Because I usually remember a cute guy when I see one…" She finished off with a wink and almost thought about taking a bleach shower for saying it.

Paul smiled at her and did the little head nod thing. "So ya wanna have a go with me then?"

"I've uhh… got a boyfriend."

Paul slouched back into his seat. "Fuck. Well ya fucking did it Boris. You found the only slut that doesn't put out."

Ranma was about to lunge at Paul when a knock came off the door. Boris tensed and Ranma felt him hold onto her just a bit tighter. "C-Come in…"

The door swung open and there stood a man in a purple leisure suit and two armed men on either side of him. "Boris, buddy. I hope you don't mind if I have a seat."

Boris did the best he could not to shake. "Sure Tim. M-Make yourself at home. W-want a drink? I need a drink."

Tim sat down resting his hands on his pimp cane. "No. We don't need any drinks I think. We need a talk Boris. That's what we need."

"R-right…"

Paul started getting up. "Well, I'll just fuck off if you don-."

One very tall man got in his way and Tim spoke. "Sit the fuck down Paul. You see I've got a little bit of a beef with you too."

Paul sat down and the man known as Tim smiled at them revealing a gold tooth. "I've heard through the grape vine that you two have been slipping. I don't mind a whole lot if you take a little off the top for yourselves, but to have ten kilo's go missing is something I find distressing at best. I've always known you've taken some off the top Boris and that's why I've always had a little extra, you see I was thinking about you Boris and I feel that deserves something. However it seems that my generosity has been taken for granted."

Boris lifted his hands for a plea. "Look Tim, I can explain."

"Oh, please. I want to hear this." Tim crossed his legs and relaxed.

"Y-you see, I promised this guy something and he came to collect and-"

Tim interrupted him. "And you used my merchandise to pay him, Boris you stupid bastard."

"L-look! I can pay you back in two days I swear!"

Tim let that tooth shine again and pointed his cane at Boris. "Two days is all you've got Boris. So I'm expecting a fuck load of money from you and from now on my generosity ends, so the next time you need your fix, you're going to buy from me like every one else, understood?" Boris nodded frantically and kept a death hold on Ranma for support. "Good, now for you." He pointed his cane at Paul this time.

"Ey! What've I done?"

"Don't play stupid with me you slimy, little, two-timing fuck. You're on your last leg right now, so the next time you screw up what my brother worked so hard for, you're a dead man. From what I've heard, you've been helping this Saotome kid, but even if you have it's hard to believe that your help got him out of that casino alive, so I'll assume we just have unreliable Neanderthals working for us, much like yourself. If I hear from one of my monkeys one more time about your wayward loyalty, then I will personally mail you to your mother in twelve separate boxes. Do I make myself clear you fucking crumpet?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Now get yourselves something to drink, they may be your last." Timothy Garino got up and walked out of the office with his two dogs.

Right after Tim left, Boris pressed the button for an intercom and ordered something hard. After that he fell back into the couch and wrapped an arm around Ranma. "Well we're fucked Paul."

"No shit man… Why did you say two day? Can we even make that much in two nights with out fucking this place over?"

"No… Can't be done. We're fucked."

Ranma rubbed her head and spoke. "You guys are fucking idiots…"

Paul looked at her and then at Boris. "This one's got quite the mouth on er' doesn't she?"

Boris looked at her with an odd expression. "What's gotten into you babe?"

Ranma made a decision and made it fast. "You guys are fucking idiots. You stole from Timmy Garino, why the fuck would you steal from him, you guys got rocks in your heads or something?"

Paul started getting up to lay down the law. "Hey, hey, hey ya fucking bitch. Since went is any of this your business?"

Ranma had to tell a half-truth mostly wrapped up in a lie. She started by pulling out a gun from her purse, thrusting it down Boris's throat and followed up by grabbing Paul's neck and pinning him down beside Boris. Boris's eyes became teary, as he knew the end was near. "Now boys, you're gunna listen to me because I'm about to solve your little problem."

Paul stared at his buddy for a moment and then looked at Ranma. "What the fuck's gotten into ya bitch?"

Ranma took her gun out of Boris's mouth, placed a knee on his throat and put the barrel between Paul's eyes. "Call me 'bitch' again and I will kill you Paul." She looked back at Boris and said. "Now here's a little bit of truth for ya dumb fucks. My real name is Ranko Saotome."

Paul stared at her and gave her a hard look. "I am so sorry… Please… Please don't tell your brother…"

"He'll know whether you like it or not, Paul. He's told me a lot about you and that you're kind of hard to talk to so, since I have to do something far worse then a urinal cake to get you to talk should I skip asking you questions and get the tampon basket from the ladies room or is it safe to trust your judgment?"

Paul almost started crying on the spot. "You're worse then he is…"

Before Ranma could say anything else Ryouga came into the lounge and saw Ranma putting the two men in the terrible positions. "Oh, well I wasn't expecting to see this… Aren't you jumping the gun a little?"

Boris was about to cry for help went Paul cut him off. "Oh fuck! Not you! Don't tell me you're dating this bird! I swear I didn't make a pass at er'!"

Boris cried as he figured out that today just wasn't his day. Ranma gave him a look and took her knee off his neck. "Oh, for fuck sakes grow up ya wuss. I'm gonna help you with your problem, but in return I'm gonna need your help."

Boris went to his knees with his face buried in his hands. "You're Ranma's sister… I employed Ranma's sister?"

Ryouga caught the drift quickly and pulled out his gun for show and tell. "Yes and he's not going to be happy with how you're treating her."

Boris got up and punched Paul hard, relieving Paul's nose of its blood. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THE KYOTO HURRICANE CAME HERE? WHY?"

Paul fell off the couch and rolled across the floor leaving little blood splatters along the carpet. "Ahh! Me fucking nose!"

Ryouga pulled him back and pointed the gun and Boris's chest. "Hey! Keep it cool man. I don't want to waste ammo."

Ranma let a shot got off into the roof shutting every one up and gave full attention to her scowl. "Every one shut the fuck up for a minute!" She pointed at Boris with her 9mm and waved him over to the couch. "You sit down!" She grabbed Paul by the hair pulled him roughly to the side of the couch. "You get up and quit complaining!" She pointed the gun at Ryouga for a moment blinked quickly and pointed it elsewhere. "And you… You're fine. Now listen up you two because this could be your lucky day."

Boris looked up at her with a puzzled yet sulking look. "What do you mean?"

Ranma un-tensed a bit and held the gun leisurely at her side. "Well my brother, so-called Hurricane, is on your side as long as I say so and right now I say so, because we need your help to a degree."

Paul looked at her with a small shadow of fear in his eyes. "He's not coming here is he?"

"No, he's not coming here it's dangerous even for him, so I'm gonna relay messages for him are we ok with that?" They way she pointed the gun at them when she asked seemed to give them only one answer to choose.

Boris nodded. "Ok, ok. But we can't help if we don't have the money and defiantly if we're dead missy."

Ranma shook her head and started pacing. "You really think I'm stupid, don't you? I know you're in a tight spot right now so your loyalty to Timmy is currently questionable, which is exactly what I'm going to feed off of. Do we have at least a little bit of trust?"

Both Boris and Paul nodded. "What ever you need sweet pea I can get it for ya."

"Shut up Paul. You're currently number three on both mine and my brothers shit-list so I suggest you shut the fuck up and listen." Paul sunk back into his seat quietly and did as he was told. Ranma turned to Ryouga and explained a couple things. "Ok, right now these two are in a lot of shit courtesy of their own stupidity and Timmy Garino."

Ryouga looked at her with a scared look. "Garino?"

"Yeah and now they need cash and they need it fast."

"How much?"

"I'm thinking roughly about 100K just to be safe. I'm not the best at converting crack into yen."

"Holy shit… How much time do we have?"

"Two days."

Ryouga looked at her and started walking out. "Well good luck with that."

Ranma threw a cigarette tray at him and got his attention quickly. "You're helping too dumb-ass."

"Fine… But how the hell are we gonna-."

"Don't worry we've got help remember? We've got you the unbreakable man, my brother the Kyoto Hurricane, a hacker, a crazy chick, and the guy that taught me every thing I know. We can pull this off, don't worry."

Ryouga sat his ass on a table and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I'll leave the planning to you. Should we call every one here?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Hey Boris, you got a little private spot around here? You know something secret where you take the girls for some R&R?"

Boris may be coke sniffing diamond dog, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one. "Yeah it's in my office missy. Wait… Who's coming here? I don't want the Saotome kid anywhere near this building. You being here is bad enough missy."

"Not too many people know about me Boris, so just sit tight and show us the room."

"Fine. I'm gonna be shot dead for this I know it…"

"Yeah well if you don't help me I'll do it, so quit yappin'." Ranma pulled a pager out of her purse and typed in a message. "Ok they're on their way. Ryouga you follow them, I'll drag Sheela in here."

"Done."

Ryouga followed Boris and Paul out a separate door to the main office and Ranma went out the way she came in. Halfway through the hall she passed a girl with a drink tray and ignored her until something kicked in. The girl had her head bowed, but she turned to look back at Ranma at the same time. Ranma got a good look of the girls face and it was the attire that threw her off. Blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a change belt just didn't seem right. "Shampoo?"

Her hair was shorter and only came down to her shoulders but it was defiantly her. "Ranma?"

Ranma was about to say something else when she looked down at what she was wearing and knew exactly what Shampoo was thinking about the stripper outfit Ranma was wearing. "Well, this is embarrassing…"

"Oh god…" Shampoo put the tray down on a shelf holding a plant and started heading towards the nearest exit.

Ranma heard a door close and went into her head. 'Well, shit. I wonder how I'll explain this?'

Ranma paced in the hallway for a second until she decided to just go out and follow Shampoo. Ranma stood at the door for a moment trying to find her words and not sound stupid and gave the door a quick crack open to see outside. Shampoo was unlocking her bike from a drainpipe shaking her head. Ranma started to get angry with herself as she closed the door and took two steps away followed up with saying 'fuck' quietly and opening the door to go talk to Shampoo. When she opened the door again she saw something she never wanted to se again. 'I thought I told those fucks never to come around here again.' The heavy weight guy who's arms she twisted into the wrong direction wasn't present but the other two were. They were harassing Shampoo this time grabbing and touching her as she tried to unlock her bike.

Shampoo smacked a hand away from her ass and yelled. "I told you to go away!"

Tall, dark and soon to be crippled continued making his passes. "Come on baby… Just once and we promise we'll leave you alone."

Shampoo turned around and pushed him away while the other grabbed her arms and held her. "No! Get away!" No one saw Ranma pull a lead pipe out of a dumpster with a cold look in her eyes. "Stop grabbing me!"

The tall thin guy grabbed Shampoo's breasts and was getting ready to lay lips on her, until Ranma came in. A loud meaty 'thunk' was heard as the guy arched his back and fell to the ground with a tightened face. Ranma went onto the next guy who recognized her right away and tried to make a break for it. No such luck for dip-shit as Ranma did the good old baseball swing and got the back of his head sending him to the ground unconscious. Shampoo watch in some disbelief as Ranma picked up the struggling leader and pushed him up against the dirty brown brick wall. "What did I tell you? What did I fucking tell you?"

The guy was about to answer but Ranma nailed him in the gut with the lead pipe. He coughed hard and tried to fall but Ranma wouldn't let him. "What was that? I couldn't hear ya! Speak up! Why're you harassing her? Didn't I make my fucking point clear?" The guy tried to say something again but Ranma didn't want to hear his voice, so she started slapping him with an open hand. Large red imprints were left behind as she went at him over and over again. He was starting to cry, which was what Ranma wanted. He wanted to slide down the wall and lay down but Ranma just wouldn't have it. "Come on! Are you gonna say you're sorry or what?"

A small thin, yet powerful hand was crushing his neck but he tried his best to apologize. "I'm-."

Ranma punched him across the left side of his face with a hard right hook. "I thought I broke your fucking jaw! Guess I'm jus' gonna hafta try harder!" She started beating him down into submission and blood flowed off his face as if it were on a tap. He was sitting on his ass trying to get his head between his knees. Ranma stopped for a second and pulled his hair to make him look up. "Are ya gonna come around here again?"

The man started crying and shook his head furiously. "N-no! I swear it!"

"Yeah right!" She pushed her foot against his chest and pushed his chin up with the toe of her boot. "Smile fuck head!"

The man started crying and shook his head 'no'. She held the pipe up like a bat again and screamed. "I SAID SMILE YOU MOLESTING PIECE OF SHIT!" Slowly but surly he moved his lips up into a smile. "Show me those fucking teeth!" More tears came out and he was grinning. She looked down at him and asked. "What's so fucking funny? I hope you know a good dentist asshole!" With one quick swing the man screamed but cut off shortly after his teeth were knocked out by the speedy lead blur whistling through the wind. From a distance one could have sworn they heard porcelain breaking followed by the broken pieces hitting the ground.

Shampoo couldn't believe what she was seeing and stood in stunned shock as Ranma woke up number two with the concussion. "Hey! Wake up!" She smacked his face a couple times and she got him to his feet and it was questionable if he could hold that stand. "Take you're boyfriend here to the hospital. This is strike two and strike three comes with penalty of cold murder! You got that?" The man understood most of it and started leaving still dazed but turned quickly for his friend, which ended with falling on top of him and struggling to get up again.

Ranma grabbed Shampoo's arm and started dragging her inside. She was still in a comatose state and willing to be lead by anyone. Before she knew it she was sitting in a chair with one of her co-workers dabbing a wet cloth over her face. "Huh?"

"I said, 'can you hear me?'"

Shampoo nodded at her coworker. "Oh… Yeah…" She looked off behind the coworker to see Ranma sitting in a single chair rubbing her head slowly. "Ranma… I…"

Ranma put a hand up to stop her speech and kept the silence until she felt the need to break it again. "Sorry about that… I get carried away sometimes… I just hate people like that…"

Shampoo shook her head clear and tried to stand up but got a head rush and sat back down. She let out a slow breath and breathed in deeply. "No… Thanks… Thanks for that…"

Ranma smiled at her and the coworker went off to get a glass of water for Shampoo. "I guess you weren't expecting that from me."

Shampoo shook her head again. "No, not really. Umm… How have you been?"

Ranma wanted small talk as well. "Fine… Fine… I see your Japanese has gotten better."

"Yeah… Umm… H-how long have you been here?"

"This is my second night… And it's not what it looks like…"

"Oh… What is it then?"

Ranma shook her head and said. "Give me second would ya?"

"Ok."

Ranma left the room and when he came back he was a he again and wearing pants a t-shirt and with out make-up on. "Ok, first. I'm here to get Akane, big surprise eh?"

Shampoo got up with a smile, came over to him and gave him a hug. "Thanks for helping me…"

Ranma gave up with the explanation and wrap an arm around her. "No prob."

Shampoo let out a couple of tears and held him tightly. "Thank you…"

Ranma started realizing what he hadn't seen before. "How long have they been bugging you?"

She buried her head in his chest and held on tighter. "A-almost a month straight… I've always gotten away but that time… I thought…"

Ranma put his other arm around her and held her close. "It's alright, they're not gonna bug you any more…"

They sat down on the couch together and Shampoo kept crying. "I know… It's just… Where have you been…?"

Ranma didn't know how to answer that. It was a straightforward question with a deeper meaning. "Some where with my head up my ass… What about Mousse? Where's he?"

"Grandma kicked him out… I didn't want to tell him that they were… touching me… I couldn't…"

Ranma rubbed her back to sooth her. "Hey listen. I'm gonna give you a ride home ok? I want you to get some rest and forget about all this shit tonight and I need you to do me a favor."

Shampoo wiped a tear from her eye and asked. "What?"

"Tomorrow I want you to find Mousse and tell him what happened tonight. Can you do that?"

"I can't tell him…"

"Hey, he's got an iron crush on you and something tells me with two year it hasn't changed much has it?"

She almost smiled shook her head. "No…"

"Tell him they're out of the way, you don't have to mention to any one that I'm back, just get it off your chest. You'll feel better."

Shampoo nodded. "…Ok… I'll try…"

The coworker came back with a glass of water and Ranma left Shampoo for a moment to wait at the front door for Hikori and Zero.

A few minutes passed and a BMW came cruising up. "Hey guys, I got us a job."

Hikori smiled and asked. "What's the challenge?"

"100K in two days. Think we can pull it off?"

"Hell yeah."

"Ok, I told the bouncers to wait for you guys so they'll show you to the office; I've got to give someone a drive home."

Zero smiled as he walked into the strip joint and Hikori leaned against the car. "Picking up hookers is a bad idea there buddy."

"Fuck off man, I found an old friend and I just traumatized her, so I'd like the both of us to be out of here by the time the ambulance arrives."

"Right. See ya in a few." Hikori did his thing and went inside while Ranma went to go get Shampoo.

Ranma parked the car behind a well-kept house and Shampoo got out. "You gonna be ok?"

Shampoo nodded and brushed her hair out of her face. "Yeah… Grandma owns a club now and I work there until eight every night, so if you ever want to visit or say 'hi' to Mousse…"

Ranma grabbed a pen and paper from the glove box and jotted down a number. "Listen. If you're scared or think you're being followed give my pager a call on your cell and I'll come for ya. I know you can take care of yourself, but being someone that knows me must be a bit rough."

Shampoo smiled and took the number. "Thanks… I'm happy you're back… It's not like it was before but it feels good to know you're still out there thinking about me…"

"Uhh…"

"I know. You're here for Akane… She went missing, but I guess you know… I hope you find her."

"Thanks Shampoo. I'll stay in touch." Ranma gave her a wave as she walked off and opened a carved gate leading to a walk-in garden. She waved goodbye and went inside the house. 'Why do I keep giving every one my pager number? I'm gonna be as busy as fuck… Oh, yeah it's because I'm too fucking nice for my own good… Why don't I ever listen to you Hikori?'

Ranma pulled into the parking lot just in time to see a man being hoisted into the back of an ambulance and couldn't help but smile. 'I so did a good deed… I think.'

Ranma walked into the club taking in the flashing lights and tits without even batting an eye and grabbed Zero on his way into the back. "Keep it in your pants for now."

"How dare you think I'd give into such primitive urges? Reproduction is the last thing on my mind right now!"

"Thank god for that."

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?"

Ranma whistled when he entered the office and the wall opened up to the left. "Hey, pretty fancy. That's some serious spy shit right there."

Boris stared wide-eyed at Ranma and tried to close the door fast. Ranma wedged his arm in and pried the door open. Boris pointed at him and held a chair in his hand as a weapon. "She said you wouldn't come here!"

"She says a lot of things. Now it's time for a meeting."

"Oh, god! The Kyoto Hurricane in my office! If Tim finds out I'm-."

Ranma pushed him down onto a chair. "Tim's not going to know shit, alright? We're gonna be busy and are gonna need to bust our asses for the next day and a half. Hikori, I'm leaving the main plan up to you. The target is 100K and we need to get it inconspicuously. Better yet, you're gonna be working with Nabiki."

Boris looked at him with defeat. "What's she got to do with anything?"

"There's more to her then a nice pair of tits, I'll tell you that much."

(David Bowie – China Girl)


	8. Sympathy For The Devil

Sympathy For The Devil

Hikori sat at a fold out table with a notebook with a few guys around him making suggestions. In his mouth hung a cigarette releasing thick white smoke and outside it formed a large smile that spread across his face. He had a plan and it was good. Hikori asked Zero various questions, which were, then put through Nabiki's ears. Whenever he wrote something down, she'd reach over his shoulder with thick black jiffy marker circling flaws and correcting errors as she showed Hikori the holes in his plans. They worked side by side both exchanging their sly wit of extortion and in a way challenging each other. Nabiki wrote a couple notes which were immediately crossed out by Hikori when he pointed out an over looked topic. In the end they had their finished product and it was beautiful. Ranma read the paper as Sheela tried her best not to puke on him. "A bit elaborate, isn't it?"

Hikori pointed his smoke at Ranma and gave him some wisdom. "Look here. We need 100K in a very short amount of time. Elaborate is a good way to go if we don't want to be caught."

Ranma tapped his foot and looked at Zero with a questionable look. "Think you can do it?"

Zero raised his arms high as if to speak to the heavens. "My intellect knows no bounds with such a delicate area of expertise."

Ranma looked at Nabiki. "How about you? It's kinda risky."

Nabiki crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Oh, well in that case I guess I'll just get my ass back on that stage."

Ranma shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that… I just remember saying that we should keep this inconspicuous…"

Hikori threw the notebook towards Ranma to catch. "Wanna take a look at the other ideas? Just be warned that they were scrapped for a reason."

Ranma turned to Ryouga and asked. "Do you mind smashing a few windows?"

Ryouga shrugged. "Whatever. I don't think it'll work though…" Ranma sat at the table and Sheela did her best to cling to Ryouga. "What? Hey!"

Ranma waved at him. "Just let her. She needs the support."

"She's pissed drunk!"

"All the more reason to make sure she doesn't swallow her tongue isn't it?"

Ryouga grumbled as Sheela made herself comfy on Ryouga and proceed to vomit all over his leg. "Oh, god-damn it!"

Ranma put an open hand up towards Ryouga. "Just get over it. Now listen up every one, here's the plan of action we're taking to get to jail ASAP."

Boris leaned over Ranma's shoulder and read the paper. "Wha-." (WACK) "OW!"

Ranma gave Boris's forehead a quick smack and veered him away. "Don't stand over me Boris. Here's the full scoop. Basically we are going to steal a lot of money from a lot of people while making it look like it's not coming here. Now there's no way in shit we can hope to find some one with this much money and steal it in this much time. So what these two have come up with," Ranma waved at Nabiki and Hikori. "is that we steal as much business from the competition as we can and we are going to do it in the dirtiest manner we can possibly do it."

Zero raised his concern. "How are we going to plant the card scanners?"

Ranma responded after a moment of though. "I'll plant the scanners myself. I know I'm not the most delicate guy, but I know how to stick two things together."

Ryouga failed to pay full attention to the previous conversations and asked. "Card scanners?"

Ranma cleared it up. "Yeah, we find the big money makers in this city and we plant a relay signal in their debit and transfer machines to send it to an account we are both opening and closing tomorrow."

Ryouga scratched his head as he tried his best to figure it out but gave up and asked something simple. "Ok… So what do you want me to do?"

Hikori answered this one for Ryouga right after he finished the drag of his smoke. "You sir, are redirecting business here. Smash windows, put up posters, I don't care how it gets done, but it's going to get done."

"Bu-."

Hikori silenced him by talking over him. "You'll know what to do because you'll have Sheela with you. She's a pro at reckless carnage, so don't worry."

"Ok…"

Paul spoke up for the first time in a while by asking. "So, what the fuck am I doing?"

Ranma took his turn to answer. "You and Boris are not doing a fucking thing except running a strip club. Timmy doesn't need to know what you're getting into, so it's best if you stay the hell out and help serve drinks."

Paul pointed at Hikori in a bit of half-protest. "So what the fuck's this guy doing then? He's got nothing. And what about er'?" He pointed to Nabiki after Hikori.

"Their job is to make sure the money gets to were it needs to go and also look like it's not an act of crime in the meantime. Other then that; don't worry your pretty little head off Paul."

"And your sister?"

For a moment Ranma forgot he had a 'sister', but he pretty much told Paul to blow it out his ass. "What she's doing is none of your business. You just focus on what you have to do, ok?"

Paul slumped back into his seat with a hurt look. "Hey, I'm just sayin' she's gotten popular fast. Think she'll mind dancing tomorrow?"

Ranma blinked once and wanted to gouge out Paul's eyes right then and there. "No. I'm pretty sure she'll mind."

Paul put up his hands. "Just a suggestion mate."

"And a fucking horrible one at that. Now is every one clear as to what to do?" Every one nodded. "Ok. Now listen up Ryouga. You're job is going to be one of the hardest ones we've got lined up. I'll come in to help you at some point but you're gonna have to get through the beginning with just you and Sheela. You can't just run away from cops, hell you can't even let any one know you're sabotaging their business. You're gonna have to make it look like a shit load of accidents if you can. Sheela can help, but it's still gonna be tricky. Try not to let her do all the thinking, ok?"

Ryouga nodded. "Right. But how many places do I have to smash up?"

Boris knew this answer. "If you take away the casino's and other places bigger then this, then you have seven over all."

"Ouch… Are you sure we can pull that off?"

Ranma smiled. "Of coarse you can. Lets get some sleep every one. Zero, you get to stay up and build those scanners."

"If my services are to be brought to such an extent I demand a supply of constant fluids sweet."

Boris looked at him with an odd look and then at Ranma. "What does he want?"

"Free drinks. Maybe a table dance too, I'm not sure, but if I were working on some tedious little boxes I'd want a martini and some titties in my face too."

"Oh, well I can do that I suppose…"

Nabiki gave him a light wack on the shoulder as she started heading towards the door. "I don't think he wants to see you with your shirt off. Ranma, take me home."

"Don't bark orders to me Nabiki. Try asking nicely."

"Please give me a fucking ride home you ass hole."

"That's better."

As Ranma walked out of the bar with Nabiki he saw a biker almost passed out that was also about the same size as him. The booze in the bikers system made him limp, so that when Ranma pulled the collar of his leather jacket, it slid off his arms without protest and Ranma put it on. Nabiki didn't say much, but when Ranma walked passed the BMW and onto a Harley, she had to ask. "You ride a Harley?"

"Sure. Get on." Ranma kick started the bike and Nabiki got behind him. She held onto him tight as he exited the parking lot and went in a random direction. "So where do ya live?"

"Over on Fourteenth Avenue. So tell me Saotome. Since when have you started stealing things from guys with guns?"

"A little bit after I left."

"I have to hear this. From what I can tell, you've grown up a little Ranma."

"Nah. I just stopped seeing things with a narrow vision."

"Elaborate Ranma. I want details."

"Why?"

"I'm bored and I want you to tell me what you've been up to for the last two years."

"Planning on turning me in to the police for a quick reward?"

"Maybe, but if this job goes successful, then I may want to stay around you a little longer."

"That's fair." Ranma took a corner sharp letting his foot push a metal foothold to skid across the ground. "We'll talk when we get to your place."

Ranma liked to judge a place by comparing it to his place. In his place he had the essentials. A place to eat, a place to sleep, and a place to sit, hence he had four walls, a roof a few blankets and a bunch of milk crates. He didn't need a whole lot because he was constantly moving around, so going by this rational most hobo's had it better then him. He walked into Nabiki's apartment and saw many things a person didn't need. Fancy art, nice carpet, flashy curtains, and decorations that distinguished the place well. "I knew you had money."

"Yeah, you caught me there, Ranma. Start telling me things and maybe I'll offer you a drink."

"I'm not thirsty." Ranma sat down on the nice puffy leather sofa and knew right away that it beat a milk crate any day of the week. "So what do ya wanna know?"

"What were you doing over in Kyoto?"

"Working."

Nabiki laid on the couch across from him and smiled. "What kind of work?"

"Dirty work."

"Come on Saotome. Tell me."

"Blackmail, extortion, vandalism, theft, and murder."

Nabiki's eyes went wider for a moment, but she just shrugged it off. "I see. Was it really that bad to be run out of town?"

"Not really. I was just down on my luck. I started thinking weird you know?"

"No, I don't know. I'm kind of taken back by murder though. I just can't picture you taking out someone like it was nothing. Just the way you've been walking and talking… Since we're alone I'll be honest. You've changed a lot and it scares me. What happened in Kyoto?"

"In Kyoto… I found out I couldn't make it on my own. I worked an honest part time job for a little while, but hell how can you live off that. What it really came down to was meeting those two you just met."

"That Hikori has been in the game for a long time hasn't he."

Ranma nodded. "Yup. I met him when he was knocking over gas station with Sheela. In truth Hikori just forgot his wallet, so he decided to rob the place instead of paying for his gas, but I was in the bathroom when they started robbing the place. For the first couple months after being run out of this place, I got stuck in my head a lot and I was always unaware of every thing around me." Ranma laughed a little. "I tried buying a pop and a stick of beef jerky while Hikori had his gun pointed out at the poor guy behind the till. I walked right in front of him and blocked the gun with my head. Hikori and Sheela got so confused with what I did that they didn't know what the hell to do. I kept waiting for the guy to take my money, but after I got annoyed with waiting I kind of came back to reality and asked him what was wrong." Ranma kept telling the story with a big smile on his face, as it seemed to be a good memory for him. He had his hand motions going and he looked off into his head bringing back the memory. "Hikori tapped my head with the gun and was like, 'Umm. Excuse me, but I was in line first.' And I was like, 'Oh. Sorry.' And I went back into autopilot and actually got behind him and waited for him to finish robbing the place. Sheela eventually walked out and got the car ready for them leave, but Hikori still couldn't figure out what the fuck I was doing. He started pointing the gun at me, but there I was on autopilot just pushing the gun out of my face giving him a blank stare and telling him that's its rude to point. He had to fire a damn shot into the ceiling to wake me up and he tried telling me to get lost, but believe me. I wanted my beef jerky. I still hadn't figured out that he had a gun at this point and thought he was just being an asshole, so I took a swing at him and put him on the floor with a busted nose. I felt bad after that so I tried helping him up and apologizing, but then we both started fighting. We started knocking over shelves and shit and got to the point the he had a gun to my chest, and I went into a 'holy shit!' panic. I put my hands up immediately, but when I did I accidentally poked him in the eye with my beef jerky, and after that he fell back and accidentally shot me in the stomach."

Nabiki looked at him in disbelief. "He shot you?"

Ranma still had the big smile on his face. "Yeah, that fucker shot me. Luckily it missed everything vital, but god damn did it hurt. I chucked my pop at him and we started fighting again. We were nose to nose when the clerk came over put a garbage can over our heads and started beating it with fucking broom. We both eventually got out and we fell into the back seat of his car still with the can on our heads and Sheela laughing in fucking hysteria. If that wasn't bad enough, when she started driving off she realized that she forgot to take the gas pump out of the car, so there we were trying to get this can off our heads with a broken hose stuck to the side of the car squirting gas all over the place. God I was in so much pain and to top it all off, after we can the garbage can off of us our damn hair was stuck together with some nasty sludge that was at the bottom of the thing. After we got to a place in the hills, Sheela patched me up she found out that we couldn't get our heads detached from each other unless we shaved our heads. A week later I quit my piss poor job and started working with those two."

Nabiki put up her hand to stop Ranma. "Wait. He shot you and a week later you're working together?"

"Yeah. He didn't want to at first, but Sheela talked him into it."

"But why? Why did you start working with them?"

Ranma smiled again and put his hand against his head. "Because it was fun."

"That's it? Fun?"

"Yup."

"Explain this to me Ranma."

"For the first two months after I left, I was so depressed. Every time I look back at it I keep seeing how creepy I was becoming before I met them. I was always moping around keeping to myself and for about two weeks I decided that I wasn't good enough to be a man, so stayed in my girl form for a while and kept thinking to myself how much of a failure I was and how I had no honor, but then all the cold showers started to get on my nerves so I scrapped that idea. After I met them I found out how few rules they lived by and it just how much fun crap they did to get by. Hikori started showing me the ropes of the life of crime. I didn't have to worry about honor. I didn't have to worry about annoying fiancé's. And I didn't have to worry about what every one thought of me. It was good times all around."

Nabiki shook her head. "Murder is good times all around?"

Ranma stopped her with a stern look. "Those were very personal issues. I was either in a kill or be killed situation, or else they did something that just didn't sit well with me. The people I killed, no one will miss and secretly the people that knew them will be glad that they're gone."

Nabiki tried her best to understand it but nothing came. "You're going to have to forgive me for being shocked by this."

"I don't expect you to understand what happened out there in Kyoto, but understand this. I'm not a psycho. I still have my compassion and I still comprehend what is right and what is wrong."

"Interesting."

A few moments of silence passed and then Ranma's pager went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and gave it a look. "Shit! Mom… I gotta go Nabiki. I was nice catching up."

As Ranma started leaving Nabiki got up and grabbed his arm. "Ranma. There's something you need to know."

"Make it quick."

"It's important… There's two ways out of this city. The first one is to become a loyal part of their organization. The second is you Ranma."

Ranma gave her a funny look. "Me?"

"Yeah… You pissed some one off pretty badly. I don't know what you did; so that's why I asked, but remember. Selling you out and stabbing you in the back is an open option for everyone you know. I'm asking you for Akane's sake. Don't trust every one you may have known, they might want hand you over to them so they can get out."

"Even you?"

"Even me. They came to me with an offer and I can only assume they went to others with the same thing." Nabiki shook her head. "Just be careful Ranma."

"Thanks."

Ranma jet down the streets and back alleys of Nerima finding the quickest route to his mother with a some-what annoyed look on his face. "This better not be Pops…" Ranma power slid the Harley into a handy cap stall and jumped off the hog. He didn't feel like buzzing up so he kicked the glass door out. Ranma checked a clock on the wall in the main hallway to the elevator. "It hasn't even been twenty four hours! This so better not be Pops!" He stepped out onto the third floor and made his way to the right door to find it had suffered the same fate as the entrance on the ground floor. Ranma kept himself silent as he put his back to the wall and peeked around the corner. Just past a corner he saw a large back and heard deep voices. 'You're not dead yet Pops.' Ranma pulled out his handy 9mm and gave it a look and frowned. He started looking around and saw a garbage can with an empty one-liter coke bottle sitting at the top. He smiled as he picked it out and stepped into the apartment.

A deep voiced man with a pair of brass knuckles on stood over Nodoka with a smile. "I'm not one to hit a woman, but my patience grows thin lady. Where is he?"

Nodoka was almost in tears with her head bowed over a broken table. "My husband isn't here. He was kicked out yesterday."

"By who? You? Why do you defend that lowlife so much? He's gotten the both of you in deep shit over at my place. I suggest you just tell me and we'll be gone. I'm getting' tired of coming here every two days to break your shit till he gets the balls to come out and pay me."

"My son kicked him out!"

"Oh? And what's your son's name."

A cold gun pressed against the back of the big man's head and he heard the gun getting ready to fire. "My name is Ranma Saotome and I'm not happy right now."

The man smiled as he put his hands up slowly. "I suppose I should have guessed with the last name in hand. I do hope you're not planning on firing that thing in here. Too loud wouldn't you think?"

"You're right…" The large man turned when he felt the gun move away to get a good look. When he finished turning he saw an empty bottle pressed against his forehead and saw a kid smiling at him. "Ever heard of a pop bottle silencer?"

The large man tucked his bottom lip into his mouth and almost laughed. "You're the real deal kid. With a reputation like yours, I shouldn't have gotten cocky."

"You know you can stop stalling any time, right? I knocked out your buddy already."

The big guy looked down the hallway to see his friend beat to hell with his black muscle shirt tied around his head. "Well, shit."

Ranma nodded. "Shit is right. Now I don't want to put a bullet in your head, so could you please tell me why you keep breaking my mothers stuff and maybe we can resolve this like gentlemen and hopefully for you, without a grave."

The man gestured towards the sofa. "Mind if I sit?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Have it your way. I'm not gonna beat around the bush kid. You're father owes me quite a sum of money and let me tell you this. It is very unfrequent that I see to a debt personally. You catch my drift?"

"How much is it?"

"Currently your father owes me roughly around 237K. I ain't runnin' no casino here so it's not like I can make that money back and not worry about my business."

Ranma blinked at him and put down the gun. "How the fuck… Did my dad… of all people… Get 237K?"

The large man laughed for a moment and put his hands down. "Well, one of my now departed accountants exchanged my company savings into the wrong account, and I regret to say it, but he blew a large chunk of it within a week. To date I've only gotten back 2.1 Million in small increments. It seems he's trying to keep some."

Ranma looked down at his mom. "What the hell did he spend it on?"

"I-I'm not entirely sure…"

Ranma looked back at the big guy and said. "Within a week?"

"Correct."

"What kinda business you got?"

"A flower shop."

"Which is a cover for?"

"Human trade."

"Hell of a cover you got there…"

The big guy smiled. "I know."

Ranma thought for a few moments and offered the big guy a seat. "Ya know… We might be able to work something out."

The guy sat down on the sofa at last and asked with a small smile. "I'd like to hear this."

Ranma went shifty eyed for a moment and looked at his mom. "Mom. I gonna handle this for ya. It's not gonna be the most honest way of doing things but it'll be a quick solution."

She put a hand out. "N-no please! You don't have too. It's so much money and it's your father's responsibility…"

"Dad and responsibility are two things that don't go together. I'll make it my responsibility. Do you know where dad keeps his wallet?"

Nodoka got up and left for a moment. Upon coming back she had her husbands wallet in her hand. "I don't know his pin number…"

"Oh, that's ok. I've got a friend who can use this. Me and… what's your name again?"

"Bugsy."

"Bugsy and I are gonna go have a talk. After that he's not gonna come around here any more, ok?"

Nodoka looked away shyly. "Yeah…"

Ranma gave his mom a cool look and smiled. "Hey, don't feel bad mom. I really don't mind helping you, and you gave my pager a call for a reason right?"

"Well, I suppose… But I didn't expect you to solve my problem like this…"

"I know you don't like him very much mom, but I need more friends then enemies right now. If I can solve this with out any one getting hurt, minus the general public, then I feel I did something good and every one can walk away like nothing happened. Now I see that your door is busted and I'm sure Bugsy here is gonna be more then willing to pay for the damage he was forced to cause because of dad. If he isn't willing then he won't be waking up in the morning." Ranma glared at Bugsy and pointed his gun at him from under his arm. "Right Bugsy?"

"Put that thing away. I'll pay for it, but I'm expecting something from you too sonny."

"You'll get your two-bits, don't worry." Ranma looked back at his mom. "For now I want you to come with me until the repairs are made. I don't want you here with the door wide open all day and night."

Nodoka nodded. "Ok… Where are we going?"

"I know Nabiki is up right now, do you mind spending the night at her place?"

"Not at all. Are you sure it'll be ok with her though?"

"I could care less what she thinks, besides she owes me right now."

"For what?"

"I got her a new job."

"Oh…"

Ranma turned to Bugsy. "Where's you're flower shop? I'll stop in tomorrow morning and give you the low-down on what's happening."

Bugsy pulled out a business card and gave him a million dollar smile as he handed it to him. "I think it would be a great idea to work with the Kyoto Hurricane. A pleasure even."

Ranma gave him a questioning look as he took the card. "Where the hell did that name come from? I keep hearing it as well as references to me being a storm of some kind."

Bugsy laughed and gave Ranma's shoulder a hard pat. "Don't be so humble kid. I've heard the stories and I must say, I like what I hear."

"Whatever…"

Morning came and Ranma woke up late in the old Tendo dojo. Ryouga and Hikori were already up and talking while Sheela tore the tow truck apart and into complete demise. Tattoo man Jerico was there beside the truck handing her tools as Ranma came into what remained of the living room now turned patio scratching himself inappropriately. Ryouga looked at him and asked. "How come you rolled in so late?"

"Oh, you were worried about me? That's so sweet…"

"Kiss my ass, it's just a question."

Ranma planted himself in a foldout chair and started eating some day old cheetos. "Met a guy named Bugsy last night. From the sounds of it he's been trying to find me for a while now. I swear this guy thought I was a dumb as a sack of hammers."

Ryouga shrugged. "It's nice to know some one thinks like I do."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyways he's been harassing my parents to get to meet me. He put a shit load of money into my dads account and has been fucking up their lives for the last month."

Hikori puffed his smoke and asked. "Did you play dumb?"

"Hell yeah. I'm going to go see what he wants today, maybe break it to him that I'm not an idiot."

Sheela walked by him and gave him a kiss. "Good morning sweetie." She placed a hand on his face as she laid quick lips on him and he looked annoyed as she walked off with a grin.

Ranma felt the side of his face to feel the all too familiar handprint of 10W30 oil. "Ya know, you'd think I wouldn't fall for that after all this time…"

Hikori tossed him an old shirt as Zero came out into the bright sunlight. "Wow the fog sure is dismal today."

Ranma wiped his face off and asked. "So how're those scanners?"

"Mission accomplished. Our journey to fortune resides on how today's events unfold."

"Beautiful. Give me an hour and I'll get that shit set up all over town. You guys ready?"

Sheela pointed down at Ranma's crotch. "Are ya planning on taking over the city in those sexy boxers of yours?"

"Yes, Yes I am."

Ranma polished off the stale cheetos and got up. "Let's go guys."

Ryouga and Sheela sat in a BMW across from the Kitten Club. "Sooo… Whaddya we do?"

Sheela got close beside him and gave him a grin. "Want a blowjob?"

"What? No! I'm taken!"

"You're so uptight. I say we do something that'll look like an accident."

Ryouga looked at her with caution. "Why do you switch subjects so fast?"

"Do you love her?"

"See?"

"Is it a guy? I'm cool with that."

"Ahh! She's not a guy! Her name's Ukyo!"

"So how do ya want to do this?"

Ryouga started getting confused. "I just asked you that!"

"No I don't mean this."

"Wha…" Ryouga screamed and whacked his head on the dashboard a few times.

Sheela smiled to herself as she pulled the car into an ill-lit alley. "Sweet, I broke him."

Ryouga got out of his stupor and looked around. "Why are we in this ill-lit alley?"

"So no on sees us… Duh!"

Ryouga wedged himself against the door and pointed at her. "Get away from me!"

She reached over and flicked his head. "Hey, I'm just messing with you. I'm parking here because I don't want to look suspicious. We're going to break into the club and blow up their power box. Ok?"

"…Ok… Y-you're not gonna-."

"No you gullible moron! How the hell did you ever bag a chick you beautiful bastard?" Ryouga started crying. "Great… I broke him again… This is fun!"

Ranma was with Jerico as they stood at a back door trying to break in without busting the door in. "So Jerry doesn't want anything?"

Jerico scratched his head. "Well no, not really. I just wanted to see how the pro's do this kind of stuff."

"I'm not exactly pro, man."

"Well it's kind of cool working with the Kyoto Hurricane, besides I wanted to thank you for the whole truck thing."

Ranma got fed up and kicked the door in. Upon entering he noticed the hinges and said, "Oh, it swings outwards. That explains a few things. What's with the whole Hurricane thing man? Why do people keep calling me that?"

"Dude! You single handedly leveled a building."

"I did not level a building single handedly!"

"What about the electric fish incident?"

Ranma shrugged. "Ok, that may have happened but I don't see how-."

"You jumped a semi full of fuel."

"It did not have fuel in it! I was in the process of getting the gas."

"You whooped an entire disco full of people with a dildo chainsaw."

"It was a nudy bar and it wasn't full. It was a Wednesday night." Ranma started working on a fast-cash machine and had the scanner in the slot in no time. "For the love of god, Jerico you're older then me. Why the hell are you so damn gitty?"

"Because Mr. Saotome, in a very short amount of time you accomplished more then Jerry has in almost eight years. I've been with him since he started and the shit you did came to our ears in no time."

Ranma started working on a debit machine. "I thought I was a 'dirty word' around here."

"Well, yes… But what you've done has gotten all eyes looking at you. For fuck sake's man, Jasper wants you dead. Jasper wants you specifically, dead. He's put aside all us petty, small time annoyances and is focusing all of his attentions on you, yet no one know what the fuck you did except for him and you."

"I don't know what the fuck I did to him. I can't recall ever trying to put a weed up any ones ass."

"You must have an idea man."

"No clue." Ranma finished up and started heading out with Jerico. "I was in Kyoto the entire time and I guess he was here as well."

Jerico shook his head. "You're taking this too lightly. That man is the devil, ya here me?"

"Every one has a soft spot my friend, even the devil. And apparently I've rubbed it a bit too rough."

"You may have a point… What's next on the list?"

"I'm seriously thinking about skipping this one…"

"Why?"

"It's a gay bar called the Back Door. I've had a few bad experiences with guys hitting on me before."

Jerico tossed that through his head. "Man, if I was in a gay bar and didn't get hit on at all… I'd be furious."

Ranma stopped for a second and thought about that. "Whoa… If you think about it like that… I would too. Still… I can't help but feel uncomfortable. I just keep thinking that if I go their I'll run into some one I never wanted to think was a donut puncher."

"How do you think we felt around Jerry and his, 'change'?"

Ranma remained still and said. "Jerry's actually a guy?"

Jerico raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know?"

"I though Jerry was a snail rubber…"

"Well, he did get a sex change…"

Ranma started walking towards his Harley. "Awe man… I thought Jerry was hot…"

Jerico gave him a pat on the back. "Believe me… you're not the first one… Honestly though. How could you not know?"

"The tits and the figure threw me off, ok!"

"Not too quick are ya?"

"Wanna walk?"

"No-."

"Didn't think so!"


	9. Mad World

Mad World

As usual the club was closed during mid-day, but Ranma still had shifty eyes for some sort of security guards kicking around. His main fear was actually seeing some angry gay guard in leather chaps and a belly shirt chasing him around with a nightstick and a playful grin on his face. Being in an empty club was always a strange feeling. The dance floor was empty, the bar was empty and there was no damn music. Everything was just missing. Jerico had helped Ranma pry the back door open and wasted no time with the gay jokes. "Hey. How do you get more guys into a gay bar?"

Ranma shrugged. "No clue."

"Turn the stools up-side-down."

Ranma snickered and tried his hand at it as he had at the fast-cash machine. "What do you call a gay bar with no place to sit?"

"What?"

"A fruit stand."

Jerico laughed and went over to the bar and picked up a large bottle of booze gave it a look and came up with another. "What do ya call a fart in a gay bar?"

"What?" Ranma started making his way over to a deposit box generically hidden under a false floor behind the bar.

"The mating call."

Ranma was about to come up with something when a thump was heard and the sound of a door closing followed after it. Both Ranma and Jerico looked at each other and quickly ducked behind the bar. They kept quiet as footsteps entered the main area and the sound of some guy yawning was heard. The two both had large bottle of booze in their hands ready to pummel anyone that came near them. The footsteps started nearing the bar and the two got ready for their attack. Ranma leaned close to Jerico and whispered. "I don't want to kill this guy, but I also don't want him to see us."

Jerico stared at him wide eyed for a moment and whispered back. "Well what the fuck are we gonna do? He's gonna see us!"

"Let me handle it. Just wait." Ranma held the heavy bottle by the neck and waited. The footsteps stopped just short of bar and a hand came over the counter and hit the power switch to the clubs stereo. Music started and the sounds left towards the dance floor. Ranma took a deep breath and whispered to Jerico again. "Ok, new plan. Go to the edge over there and tell me when he's got his back to us."

Jerico nodded and crawled off to the side to poke his head around the corner. The guy on the dance floor was doing some sort of aerobic workout and Jerico just shook his head in pity. Ranma got ready to jump up as soon as Jerico gave the signal and he still had the bottle in his hand. He watched for Jerico's signal while listening to where the dance steps made their way. Jerico's hand started waving and Ranma shot up from behind the bar, found the back of the guys head in no time and chucked the bottle as hard as he could from twenty feet away. The poor unsuspecting guy never knew what was coming and fell flat to his face when the thick bottle smashed against the back of his head. Jerico got up and immediately went over to the guy. He gave the downed guy a look and realized that his eyes were still open. "AHH!"

The guy in spandex pants and a see through black mesh shirt slowly got up and pulled out a Kendo stick. Ranma looked at the guy in wonder. "No way! He should have been knocked out!"

The queer was quick with the stick and knocked Jerico off to the side and turned around with a cross look on his face, which soon turned to confusion as he saw Ranma. "S-Saotome?" Ranma's face dropped when he saw Kuno and a blank look developed in his eyes. Kuno shrieked and dropped the stick. "W-w-w-what are you doing here?"

Ranma snapped out of it and pointed at him. "What are YOU doing here?"

Kuno looked shifty eyed and started stepping back. "I uhh… You're trespassing Saotome!"

"Ahh! You're gay!"

"I am not attracted to other men, such as yourself Saotome!"

Ranma screamed as he pulled the cash register off the counter, bolts and all, and promptly chucked it at Kuno, which sent him to dream land instantly. Ranma started breathing hard as Jerico picked himself up. "You two know each other?"

"No! I'm not associated with him in any way!"

"I didn't know you knew the owner here."

"He's the owner?"

"Yeah, this is Jerry's favorite place. Those two are always flirting."

"This is exactly what I meant! I never wanted to know this about Kuno! I thought he was a skirt chasing pervert, working in his dad's salon."

"That's his day job… And I hear he goes both ways."

Ranma started getting that feeling of wanting to scrub himself senseless with an S.O.S pad. "Awe damn! Did he know I was 'pigtailed girl' or what? Ahh!"

Jerico passed Ranma a funny look. "Pigtailed girl? What's that suppose to mean?"

Ranma thought up a lie quick. "I'm uhhh… Let's just say that I can disguise myself pretty good. About as good as Jerry if I try hard."

"Wow… You don't look anything like a chick… Sooooo… what do we do now?"

"The fuck should I know?"

"Well, you're the pro and he saw us."

"I told you I'm not a pro! I only have a rough idea of what I'm doing."

"Well what do we do about this?"

"Stop asking me that!"

Ryouga was getting a shoulder rub as he pieced together a mini-bomb. "Please stop that…"

"But you're enjoying it."

"How come I have to put this thing together?"

"Because you have to learn how and also because you keep giving me the cold shoulder."

"You keep trying to rape me!"

"I hear that you can't rape the willing."

Ryouga started crying as he did his best to focus on the little firebomb. "I just want to be a one woman man… Why am I such a disgraceful loser?"

"Hey… At least I like you."

Ryouga cried harder as he lost his losing battle. "Where's Ranma…?"

"Oh, some where very far away from us… and he's not bailing you out."

"Please stop rubbing my shoulders…"

"Ya know… I've never actually screwed in a power room before. Odd, Ranma and I have been in so many, but we just never got around to it." Ryouga finished the bomb and ran out of the room at break-neck speeds. Sheela snapped her fingers and thought to herself. 'Damn! He's actually gonna win the bet.' She adjusted the placement of the little thing towards the center on the power panel and flicked on a lighter she had in her pocket. She scooted off to the side and couched down with her hands behind her head waiting for it to go off. A loud pop was heard and she turned around as the lights went out. She pulled out a flash light took a look at the damaged box and pulled a few extra cords out to be safe. "Sweetie! We're done here!" Her calls went unanswered and she made her way up the stairs with a hurt look. "Hey! Cutie! Where are ya?"

The four met up down the street from a high-end club called Roxy's and Ranma was the first to ask. "So how many places have you guys hit?"

Sheela counted them out as Ryouga gave her an unwilling piggyback ride. "We blew the fuse at Hashim's, set up scanners at Bob's Bits, Federico's and… what else cutie?" She knocked on Ryouga's head.

"Uhh… Slack Alice's? Yeah. How about you guys?"

Ranma answered. "We did scanners at The Kitten Club, The Back Door, Jimmy's Johnson, and… wait I though we did Federico's too?"

Jerico shook his head. "No that was Fernado's. We blew a hole in the roof at the Bingo Hall and took all the doors from Andre's."

Ryouga raised an eyebrow. "Took the doors?"

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Yeah we kept breaking the doors there so we thought, hey, why not just take them all off the hinges, that oughtta close the place for tonight."

"I guess it works… So what about Roxy's over there?"

Ranma pulled out his cell phone and gave Zero a call. While the phone rang he filled them in. "Roxy's has got a security system. Zero's gonna take care of that and Sheela's gonna take you two to help her while I go see Bugsy. After I'm done with him I'll meet up with all of ya back at the dojo." Zero finally picked up his phone and answered. "Yo, we're ready for ya… Sweet, see ya soon." Ranma hung up. "See ya all later." Ranma boarded his new hot pink El Dorado and started it up.

Ranma reached a flower shop and parked the boat of a car. He entered the shop and saw Bugsy behind a small wooden counter with a flower apron on, a stupid smile and a new paper to his face. "Hey."

Bugsy dropped the paper and welcomed him in. "Ahh, Mr. Hurricane. Please come into the back with me, I was expecting you a little earlier, but who cares about that?"

"I sure don't." Bugsy gave a couple laughs as he walked off into the back and Ranma followed till they were at a nice show garden with a lounge in the center. "You take this gardening thing seriously don't ya?"

Bugsy shrugged. "A guy's gotta have a hobby kid. You want a drink?"

"Nah I'm good. I'm kinda in a hurry here so lets talk business."

"What do you propose?"

"Look Bugsy, I'm not an idiot here. I know you threw that money into his account on purpose so you'd annoy me enough to come out of hiding, so what do you want and why shouldn't I shoot the shit out of you?"

Bugsy started to develop a nervous smile, which quickly turned into a full-blown grin. "Ok, you got me." He scratched his head and laughed a few times. "I guess I should give you a little bit more credit, as usual."

"You should now what do you want?"

He leaned back in his lawn chair as some guy handed him a drink. "An exchange for the most part. You do something for me and I'll do something for you. Just like I wanted it to be, but I just didn't want you to find out I was harassing your mom on purpose."

"Yeah, that doesn't exactly sit well with me. I'd like to know what it is you'd like to offer though."

"An information exchange, nothing more. You do a little bit of recon work for me and I'll pull some strings for some information that you'd like to know."

Ranma shook his head. "I don't like hand shake deals."

Bugsy nodded. "If there's one thing I learned it's that you have to give trust to others before they can return it."

"Beautiful. Did you write that yourself?"

"Well I don't mean to brag but… Ah well forget that, what I'm saying is that I'll give you information first as a show of trust to you that if I do so you will get what I'm looking for."

"Now you're talking."

Bugsy put up his feet as Ranma took a seat. "I hear through the grape vine that you've been snooping around for an old girl-friends whereabouts."

"Kinda found her already. Try again Bugsy."

"Nah, you didn't find her, you found a trap which I'd like to applaud you for getting out of. She was placed there to root you out and it succeeded. What you want to know is where to find her when she's not under the ever-watchful eye of Jasper."

"You're peaking on my distrust right now Bugsy. How the fuck would you know where she is? Seriously?"

"How can I put this…? Let's just say that I'm known as Bugsy Garino around here."

Ranma didn't waste any time pulling out his gun and pointing it straight at Bugsy's head. "Is that so?"

"I guess you don't get it. Garino is a brotherhood if you will. Not directed with blood, but a title given to those in charge of something serious. Just because I've been labeled, as a Garino doesn't mean I like all those other guys. In fact I hate most of them. The only legitimate brothers are Timmy and Jasper and even they hate each other."

"No shit?" Ranma kept the gun held in his hand with a stiff unmoving arm.

"I not trying to get on your bad side kid, I've heard of your little outbursts in Kyoto and I like what I hear. Timmy came here for the sole reason of getting away from Jasper, but hey beggars can't be choosers. The only reason Timmy's mad at you is because you forced Jasper to come here."

"So why does Jasper act like a shit in his cornflakes?"

Bugsy raised his eyebrows. "You don't know? You killed his brother kid."

"I killed his brother? I don't remember killing any one named Garino back in Kyoto."

"Oh, their brother wasn't in this dysfunctional little family of mine."

"So who was he?"

"Can't say I know to be honest. I never did care to remember his name, but what I do know is that Timmy didn't care too much while on the other hand you struck a pretty sensitive spot with Jasper."

"Killed their brother huh? Hmm… I guess I'd be pretty peeved too"

"Yup. Now do you mind lowering that thing? I'd like to take a drink with out you shooting me."

"I'm still deciding if I want to trust you or not. I really don't like the idea of you being Garino."

"You seem to trust Jerry."

"Jerry's a Garino too?"

"Well… used to be to be more precise. After he got the sex change he was kind of looked down on and became a little bit shunned in the organization."

"Awe man… Jerico wasn't lying…"

"You didn't know Jerry was a guy?"

"Well no-."

"How could you not know?"

"Do you want to be fucking shot?"

"No…"

"Then drop it!"

"Ok, ok calm down kid. Geez."

Ranma crossed his arms but still kept Bugsy within aim. "So where's Akane and I want pictures."

A few seconds later the same guy that served drinks came back with a folder and handed it to Ranma. Bugsy filled him in as Ranma read through it and looked at a couple pictures. "She's in a mansion build close to the old west highway. I've got a guy working in there that occasionally talks to her and that's how we got your name to pop up. We thought she was just keeping her lips sealed about you, but we eventually figured out that she really had no clue where you were. Oh, the address of the place is on the back of that picture. You can check it out if you want unless you think this is another trap."

"I'll check it out, but if I get shot at just remember that I'm coming straight back here to shoot your sorry ass."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Any ways do you feel like doing me a favor now?"

"Not really, but I guess I can help. Just remember. I'm the bullet catcher that can't be killed, so don't screw me and you won't end up crucified amongst your lovely garden here."

Bugsy put up his hands. "Hey I value my life just as much as the other guy. So here's what I want…"

A light rain shower poured down during midday as Ranma drove the Cadillac down the road and fought with the switches trying desperately to get the top to cover the car. She eventually pulled over, popped the trunk open and removed Kuno's gag. "Yo, how the hell do I put the top up on this thing?"

"Oh, it's manual. You have to pull it out yourself."

"Thanks." She placed the gag back in his mouth, closed the trunk and got the top on. She eventually got to Furikan High School to have her daily visit with Paul. She found him in the broom closet smoking a joint with a couple students. "Put that shit out."

"Ahh!" Paul bounced the joint around in his hands a bit and stamped it out as the students ran off. "W-What is it? Did e' send you ere'?"

"No, I need you to do something for me."

"Well ask nicely luv, or I may not-." (BIFF!)

Ranma smoke him across the face and pointed her finger down at him. "You will do this for me or I'll send my brother after you as soon as I'm done with you."

"Ow! Don't be so mean luv…" (SOCK!)

"Don't call me love, it makes me feel greasy. Anyways, you're doing a recon mission for me and I want you to come back with pictures."

"Fine, fine! Christ yer abusive!"

Ranma handed him a picture of Akane and the Address. "Verify this for me ok?"

"Ok. How's the uhh… plan coming along… You know, so I don't die."

"It's under control, don't you worry about it princess. You just focus on keeping the school clean Paul, honestly…" Ranma turned around and started walking away.

Paul asked as she made her way down the hall. "Hey! Can you dance tonight? They love ya out there."

Ranma turned around and gave him a cold look. "I'd rather shit down my own throat." Turned again and left.

"I'd pay to see that…"

Ranma pulled up to the dojo and Sheela was already coming over to the pink rocket. "Hey! No touchies! I might actually return this."

"That'd be a first. So how was it?" She groped Ranma with one hand and placed the other on Ranma's cheek as she kissed her.

Ranma looked angry again as she wiped the 10W30 oil off her face. "Fine… I take it you lost?"

Sheela pulled a small stack of bills out of her back pocket and handed them to Ranma. "How'd you know he was gonna keep his pants on?"

"He's a dedicated guy."

"You didn't say that about him. I thought you said he cheated?"

"Oh, he did. I just know he wouldn't be stupid enough to do it again."

Sheela crossed her arms. "Hmph! That settles it then! You cheated on the bet and you owe me a car! A big pink one too!"

"You're a sore loser…" Ranma shook her head and waved her towards it. "Fine but don't blow torch the trunk, I've got a guy in there."

"Is he cute?"

"I don't know! Just keep him away from me, ok?"

"Okies!"

Ranma met Ryouga sitting on the patio completely drenched. Ryouga looked at Ranma's chest and asked. "Who copped a feel?"

"Huh?" Ranma looked down to see a 10W30 handprint on her breast. "That's a new one… She hasn't done that to me before…"

"Oh, Sheela."

Ryouga tossed Ranma a towel and she dried herself off. "So how did it go at Roxy's?"

"I'd rather not talk about it…"

Ranma pulled half the bills Sheela gave her out of her pocket and tossed them at Ryouga. "There's your share."

"Huh?"

"We won a bet. Thanks for keeping your dick in your pants."

Ryouga's eyes turned to slits as he glared at Ranma. "You bastard!" He lunged at her and tackled her off the patio and into the rain.

She put him in a headlock quickly, stuck her fingers up his nose and pulled his head back. "Hey, question."

"I'm gonna sneeze!" Ranma took her fingers out just in time to avoid the snot rockets. Ryouga sat on the grass as Ranma got up and looked down at him. "What?"

"When did you get cured?" Ryouga realized that he was getting rained on with no change.

"Oh… Uhhh… I got lost looking for you and ended up in China and you know…"

"And you didn't tell me because?"

Ryouga shrugged. "I thought you'd get mad or something if you knew."

"I see…" Ranma crossed her arms and walked off to find Hikori.

Ranma found Hikori sitting on a couch that wasn't there that morning. "Hey, are you ready for tonight?"

"I was waiting for you to finish… Did Sheela grab you?"

"Yes, now stop staring or I'll rip your spine out your ass."

"Just checking. So you got any plans for the next five hours?"

"Not really. I was just gonna watch t.v… better yet I'm gonna go pay Jerry a visit."

"Good, I'll go with you, I'm bored."

The two got in the car and when Ranma turned the key, no sound was heard. She rubbed her forehead and spoke loudly. "Sheela! Put the spark plugs back in, I need to go."

Sheela popped out from underneath on a roller board. "What? It's only been like three minutes!"

"Sheela! You tore every thing else apart, can you please spare this thing for just today?"

"No."

"Sheela! I'm in a hurry! Put the fucking spark plugs back in!"

"Only if you flash me your tits."

"No!"

"Then I can't help ya…"

Ranma got mad and pointed Hikori to look away. "Eyes away! Now!"

Somewhere down the street Hikori started snickering. Ranma put on her angry face and yelled. "I AM NOT UNDER HER THUMB!" Hikori didn't say anything except for making the sound of a whip cracking and a hand motion. "AND I AM NOT WHIPPED!"

Ranma came skidding into the docks and got out with Hikori and doing what any other respectable person would do. Ranma knocked on the door and waited. As usual Jerico was the designated door bitch and he looked at the two. "Hey… Hikori right? And she is?"

Hikori pointed his thumb to Ranma and said. "Ranma."

Ranma looked down at her boobs and remember that she was in fact a she at the moment. "Fuck!" She gave Hikori a hard shoulder shot and ask. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Hikori shrugged to her with a hurt look. "You get used to it and forget about it after a while."

Jerico looked Ranma up and down. "Whoa! You weren't kidding, you can do that as well as Jerry." Jerico gave Ranma's breast a squeeze and said. "Wow you go all out, these things feel real…"

Ranma vibrated with an angry look on her face as Hikori started snickering again. Ranma Smoked Jerico in the head and yelled. "Stop grabbin' me ya rat-bastard!"

Jerry came around the corner just in time to see Jerico get pushed back by the force of Ranma's punch looked at her with a big cigar in her mouth. "And you are?"

Ranma stood in front of Jerry with a pissed look. "Ranma! I'm Ranma damnit!"

Jerry gave her another look up and down and said. "Nicely done. I know a bar you might be interested in."

Ranma put her hands on her hips and looked down. "I was already there… And not for that reason either!"

"Oh, I see. This is just something you do from time to time I guess. Ya know I was like you once. Always unsure of myself and not knowing-."

"I came here for a reason damnit! Not to hear the gay Philosophies of Jerry!"

"Oh… So why did you come here?"

"I need to ask a favor."

Jerry laughed at Ranma and flicked the ash off the end of her cigar. "Oh, that's precious right there. Jerico go mark this day on the calender. Saotome asks me for a favor. I don't owe you shit. You owe ME shit buddy boy."

"Awe come on, it's nothing big."

"I got a policy Mr. Saotome. Either go big or go home. I don't deal with small time shit."

"Ok fine, it's something huge then."

"Not interested in the least."

Ranma tapped her foot for a second. "How about this. You do me this tiny little favor and I hand you the deed to the Back Door."

Jerry raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Ok… How did you acquire ownership over a gay bar in under a week?"

Ranma pointed out the door to the pink Cadillac. "That would be the owners car and he would be in the trunk."

Jerry shook her head. "You didn't kill him did you?"

"Well no… I'm pulling a job right now and I kind of… Well he caught me red handed and I didn't know what else to do then tie him up and figure out what I was going to do till later."

Hirkori nodded. "That would explain those occasional screams coming from the back seat. I was worried for a little bit."

Ranma turned to him. "What's so weird? We've had people tied up in the trunk before."

"Well yeah, but you were pretending you didn't even hear them. I thought I was hearing things. In that short drive I became religious and you just tore that away from me."

"Wow, I'm shittin' in every one's cornflakes these days."

Jerry grabbed Ranma's attention again. "Hey, I'm liking where this is going. What is it you want from me?"

"I want you to lend me a couple of helping hands tonight and keep an eye on a few people for me."

"Jerico's about the only reliable person I have the rest of them are a bunch of utter knot-heads."

"That's fine."

"And who would you like us to keep an eye on for you? If it's a Garino or a Vercetti then it's a no go."

Ranma found a piece of paper and a pen on a desk and started writing down names. "I want to know is where these people are, what they are doing, who they are doing it with, and especially who they are talking to."

Jerry took the slip of paper and read through the names. "Didn't you come here with this guy before?"

"Yeah, but I can't keep an eye on him all the time. We don't really like each other but we can tolerate each other enough. I got some advice from an old acquaintance that I feel I should follow."

"Who?"

"She should be the third one down."

Jerry gave the list another look down. "Do you know all these people?"

"Yeah, and I'm a little paranoid right now."

"Ok, I won't ask any more question, but just remember. As usual if this comes back to bite me in the ass at a later date, I'll personally sodomize you with a cheese grater, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I know the routine."

"Ok, can you leave Kuno here? I'd like to go over the liquidation of his assets with him."

"I'm sure you do… Either way the further away from me he is the happier I am."

Jerry gave Jerico a kick to get him up. "Hey get your ass up and help him."

Jerico rubbed his head and got up. "I'm over worked…"

The three were almost out and Jerry asked her final question. "Hey, Saotome. Did you really not know I was a guy?"

"FUCK OFF!"

(Tears For Fears - Mad World: This is the only good version of the song. Gary Jules fucked it up and don't let any one tell you otherwise. On a side note I'd like to apologize for the long wait for an update, but I chopped my finger off with a band-saw a week and a half ago and I'm not sure if this has ever happened to you, but it's a rather discouraging experience and keeps you away from hand movements for a while. Now that I'm done bragging about that, secondly: Don't bitch about the gay jokes at the beginning. This was not a gay-bashing chapter, I was just showing you what Ranma is like in this fic. Have fun and party hard.)


	10. Insomnia

Insomnia

For the remaining time before every one had to pull the job Ranma decided to take over the new couch and sleep on it. He kept waking up every ten minutes, with thoughts over events soon to take place, but put them off to the side and dozed off again and again. The last time he woke up was when Sheela decided to join him for a nap and snuggled up to him. She brought a blanket with her and they both dozed off. Ryouga came into the room and tip toed quietly past them and towards the fridge, inconveniently located right beside the couch. He opened it took a look at the two sleeping, grabbed a couple bottles of water and went back to the patio. Hikori was reading a magazine when Ryouga came over to him and handed him the requested water and put out his smoke just in time. Ryouga pointed a thumb over his shoulder towards the two and asked. "Are you sure those two aren't… You know…"

"Nah, their best friends. She's always been good to him and he's returned that. They may yell at each other once and a while, but believe me they love to fight."

"She's kind of 'touchy'… Like physically."

Hikori waved it off as he gulped some water down. "Don't mind that. She knows she's hot and she likes to see guys sweat."

"I noticed…"

"Don't take it too hard, those two have been making those kind of bets since the second week of knowing each other. At least he came clean and paid you out for your efforts. He's usually a cheap skate about it."

Ryouga shrugged. "I guess."

"Maybe you should try that some time as well."

"What do you mean?"

"Voice down buddy. I'm talking about your curse."

Ryouga started getting defensive. "What about it? So what if I didn't tell him?"

Hikori laughed and leaned back in his chair a bit. "You know why Ranma still changes into a girl?"

Ryouga thought about it and gave him a basic answer. "Because he didn't go to China?"

"No. It's because I stopped him from going to China."

Ryouga gave him a puzzled look. "Why'd you stop him?"

"With a name like mine, can you guess where I'm from?"

Ryouga continued looking at Hikori and started thinking, and after a few moments it hit him. "Hikori…" Ryouga said it fast and it came out. "Hickory." Ryouga thought back on a time when he met people with names like those and pointed at Hikori. "Are you a Musk?"

Hikori smiled his weasely little grin and nodded with a thumb up. "Got it on your first try man. Now let use some deductive reasoning here. I came from China and I'm from a line of people that once used the springs to hells end and back, so in general I have a good knowledge of how this shit works. Sure I don't have a lot to do with my heritage anymore and maybe I was in the third generation that disbanded, but that's beside the point. Now as to the reason I stopped Ranma from going back is because the curses have a tendency to carry over. My brother found this out way back in the day when he tried curing himself of the penguin curse he had and ended up having a really fucked up cross-form of a man and a penguin. What a penguin was doing in China, I'll never know, but basically in Ranma's case this means that if he jumped into that spring of drowned man, his new cursed form would have been a hentai manga rip-off of a dick-girl, I think. So when you said that you went back to China for a cure Ranma became suspicious of you and I don't blame him either."

Ryouga sat very still in his seat trying to figure out if what Hikori said was true. "W-what are you saying?"

Hikori lit a smoke and blew out the billows from his nose. "It means that you lied and he knows it. Since this is Ranma's little problem here I'm not going to pry in on how you actually got cured, but just know that you broke some serious trust with him as well as the others if they find out. Now it's not like he's got people with camera's following you around or any thing, but just remember that the second it looks like you're gonna stab us in the back he'll kill ya." Hikori gave a short pause and looked Ryouga square in the eye. "and if he can't muster up the nerve to do it then I will. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah! I won't stab you guys in the back I swear!"

"Good. Now when ever you get around to it, tell Ranma how you really got cured, or else the trust will never be restored."

"Ok, ok…"

A few hours later Ranma finally woke up for good and he shook Sheela awake. "Hey sexy. Time to get up."

She kept her eyes closed as she took a deep breath and smiled. "Are you sure handsome?"

"Yup."

She rolled over and whispered to him. "Hey, guess what."

"You're not gonna get up?"

"Close. I'm making you something."

"Ooo. Watcha making me?"

"Something special."

"I guess I should get you something too."

"Maybe you should, or else I might keep it for myself."

"So watcha want?"

"Something special."

"Gonna make me guess?"

"Yup, but here's a hint. I don't want a car."

"Ouch, this is gonna be a toughie."

She got up and gave his forehead a kiss. "Well, it wouldn't be important if it wasn't hard."

"Good point…" Shortly after Ranma got up he walked out onto the patio and saw Hikori, Zero, Ryouga, Nabiki and Jerico all sitting there with faces that looked ready to laugh. "What? Did she do something to me again?"

Hikori waved Ranma towards a chair. "Ranma my man. Have a seat."

"What the hell did you guys do…?"

"Oh, nothing. We just drew straws."

"Straws for?"

"Who gets to work at the Back Door tonight. Kuno is a little bit busy right now, so some one's gotta run the place."

"…"

Jerico pulled out a tight 'man-candy' suit and tossed it towards Ranma. "We got you a little something to make you blend in there. Kuno is usually working the bar so you're gonna need to look convincing."

"I hate you guys so fucking much…"

Zero passed Ranma a look. "T'was was a fare vote. Much like the old kingdom of France."

"You guys just said you drew straws…" Ranma glared at Nabiki for a moment. "This is your doing isn't it?"

Nabiki shrugged. "Well are you going to put on the suit or not?"

"Like hell I'm putting that on." Ranma turned around and started heading back inside. "Sheela! I need to borrow some clothes."

A disturbing response came back to Ranma and struck a small amount of fear into Jerico's heart. "Didn't you bring your own?"

"No…"

Sheela walked out with a black bag and gave him choices. "You've got a choice between green, pink, black, purple, aaaaaaannnnnddddd blue."

Jerico became confused when he started holding tank tops and skirts up to see how they looked. "Hey guys, what says 'lesbian' best?"

Zero pointed off to the side. "Purple has my vote, for it is the color of royalty."

Hikori took his turn. "I'm diggin' on the lime green, with black mini-skirt."

Nabiki took a gander. "Is there no red?"

Sheela shuffled around in the bag and then Jerico heard another question that made him wonder about Ranma. "Nope… Hey what happened to that slut suit you had?"

"I burnt that thing!"

Ryouga tried at it. "What's wrong with pink?"

Nabiki filled him in. "Oh, other then every thing? He needs carpet eater, not airhead bimbo."

Ranma looked between the clothes. "Awe hell… Jerico, what do you think?"

Jerico shook his head. "I don't know what I think anymore."

"Lime green with black mini it is."

A few minutes later Ranma was calling for Sheela again. "How do I make my boobs stick up again?"

Upon Ranma coming out onto the patio again in her new lesbo waitress suit Sheela went over to her tool box by the torn apart El Dorado and pulled out some tape. Jerico almost fell off his chair when Sheela stuck her hands right up Ranma's shirt and applied it first hand. "Thanks."

Jerico needed an answer and he needed one now. He got up flicked Ranma left breast and asked. "Is this a body suit or something? These look real! And how did you dye your hair so fast?"

He was clobbered instantly. "Hands off! God, you'd think people would listen to me once and a while! Should I just start walking around with a fucking sign that says, 'Don't Fucking Touch Me' or something? Fucking hell!"

Zero shook his head at Jerico. "I'll say. That's just rude."

Jerico pointed from the ground at Ranma and asked every one. "That is in fact a man, right?"

Nabiki put a hand on his shoulder. "Yes J-baby, don't worry."

Ranma turned on the neon 'open' sign and let the tenants in. A small crowd of well built pretty boys plus a couple of older couples entered and didn't pay Ranma much mind except for the occational comments like. 'Oh, Kuno hired a cute girl!' and one or two question later on like, 'So, how do you do it? I haven't seen a tranny this good since Destiny worked here.' Ranma just kept herself quiet and served drinks like she was suppose to. Jerico on the other hand was helping her and he was currently in the 'man-candy' suit. Ranma smiled at him and said. "So these guys know you?"

"I come here with Jerry! Nothing more!" Jerico's sexuality was pretty clear, he was as straight as an arrow, so Ranma was glad she covered her bases when she asked him to help out. Well not so much help out as he was shoved into the trunk of a stolen Honda and forced into labor. "How could you do this to me? After all I helped you with!"

"Oh, it was pretty easy, you see I thought it would be funny, especially after you pulled out Jerry's clubbing suit. I really hope he visits tonight."

"I will kill you if he shows up."

Ranma served something fruity and tropical to a couple guys and pulled something out of her pocket. "Oh, look at that, I have a cell phone."

Jerico pointed at Ranma as a techno remix of Reach of for the Sunrise came on the stereo. "Don't you dare! I don't care how badass you were in Kyoto, I will destroy you!"

Ranma laughed as she put it away. "I'm not that mean. However I do require a favor."

Tattoo man Jerico got something with thick blue liquid in a bowl and a mini-rainforest in the center and handed to a guy that winked at Jerico and gave him a tip. "What?"

"In an hour I'm gonna have to check up on some shit, can you manage for a while?"

"Hell no!"

"Fine, it's clear you're gonna need motivation." Ranma pulled out her phone again.

Jerico waved violently. "No! I can manage!"

"Are you sure?" She asked as she held her finger over an auto-dial button.

"Yes! Yes!"

"Ok, I won't get Jerry here to help you…"

An hour later Ranma was out the door and heading for the strip club in her new beat up, rusty ass Honda. She pulled up and side swiped a dumpster for good luck and entered the club, via the back door. She walked straight into Boris's main office and asked. "Where the hell's Paul."

"Ahh!" Boris was on the edge. He was shaky with thoughts of Timmy coming in with guns a blazin'. "Fuck! Don't do that!"

"Sorry. Where the hell is Paul?"

"He should be getting shot down at the bar right now. He was actually looking for you, he'll be back in a minute though."

For reasons unknown she crossed her eyes and said, "Groovy." She planted herself on some tacky inflatable furniture and asked. "Where did you get these?"

"You have to order them online."

"Oh."

A moment of silence passed and Boris made his move. "Want a drink babe?"

"Fuck off." And he was promptly shot down himself.

After waiting a few minutes Paul came in with an angry guy following him trying to pick a fight. "What the fuck were you trying to do to my woman ass hole?"

"Nothing mate, fuck off will ya?"

"No, tell me what the fuck you were doing near-." (SMASH)

Ranma stood behind the man with a broken bottle in her hand and let the guy fall as bouncers dragged him out. "Paul, please try not to embarrass yourself so much. Did you get what I wanted?"

"Oh, yeah." He reached underneath the only real couch in the room and pulled out a small stack of photo's and a few notes. "Ere' ya go."

"Thanks." She flipped through a couple and saw pictures of guards all around and Akane in three different windows. "Hey, you actually did something useful Paul. Flying colors and all."

"Thanks sweet cheeks."

"I'll let that slide, but only because you did a good job. My bro'll be stopping in some time tomorrow to give you the low down. I suggest you spend the night here and have an open door in the morning."

"Ok… So how's it going?"

"Don't be friendly with me cock-clamp."

Boris let his face drop at the insult. "I meant the plan."

"Oh, it was a failure. You guys are screwed, see ya." Ranma walked out and got half way down the hallway when Sheela came over to her. "What are you doing here?"

Sheela gave her a funny look and said. "To watch strippers, get drunk and find you, how about you?"

"I have to do a little something for Bugsy right now."

Sheela clamped her teeth and asked. "Can it wait?"

"Not really, why?"

"We got a problem…"

"With?"

Sheela got a little bouncy as she paced in place. "Roxy's. Zero didn't fully shut down the security system when we went in."

"Oh, for fuck sakes… That's the biggest club in town, we need their business."

"Well Zero said that the scanners are still picking up money, but they have evidence of our break-in."

"Fuck… I can't be two places at once. I have to do this thing for Bugsy and I can only do it tonight."

"Any suggestions?"

"Can Hikori fix it? He wasn't there."

"Maybe, he might still be busy with the transfers."

Ranma crossed her arms and then her phone rang. She picked it up to hear Jerry's voice. "I've got a crisis and I need it fixed right now."

Ranma swished her head from side to side slowly. "You can't be fucking serious…"

"I know you're doing you thing right now, but this has got priority. Get here as fast as you can."

"Does it matter if it's Ryouga?"

"I don't care! I just need some one to risk their ass for me right now! So hurry up!"

"Fine ya mean bitch!" Ranma hung up and wanted to throw the phone. She got her anger under control and looked at Sheela. "Can you help Ryouga with Jerry's apparent crisis?"

"Sure. What does he want?"

"I don't fucking know… I'll give Hikori a call. We're proper fucked if they have your faces on those tapes… Wait did you just call Jerry a 'he'?"

"Yeah, Jerry's actually a guy. You didn't notice the Adams apple?"

"Oh, not you too…"

"How could you not-."

"I'm out of here!" Ranma hushed her up and walked away with a cell phone beeping away.

Hikori got the call and was now on his way to fix a problem. He hot wired a white supra and made his way to Roxy's while formulating a plan. He thought to himself like playing a video in his head of how thing would turn out if he this or did that. He had never been in Roxy's so he now had to figure out where he was going to have to find the security system, guess how many guards and bouncers there were gonna be and also get out of there with a look of innocents on his face. "I'm gonna get worked…"

Hikori went in without a plan and noticed right away that he was a little out of place upon entry. Roxy's was an all night rave with glow sticks and tight clothing all around. The crowd cheered as the DJ worked his magic upon synthesizers, various computers and keyboards. Lights flickered all around and the flashing strobe light made things look choppy and slowed down at best. A few dumb young kids that managed to make it in had the vampire look down with pale skin and glowing face paint to boot. The people danced as best they could within, but it was nowhere close to as cool as break-dancing. Essentially, it was an instant headache for Hikori.

He went straight into the crowd and joined the jumpers as the electric waves hit the air with the lasers shooting every which way. Hikori was on the look out for a disguise and laid dormant within the crowd until some one that looked his size needed to use the bathroom. Hikori followed the tall thin vampire kid in and made a quick look around for cameras. Nothing was there and before the guy could make it to the urinal Hikori put his hand to the back of the kids head and smashed his face against the wall and did it three more times just to make sure he was out for the night. Hikori pulled the kid into a stall and started changing as quick as he could with two people in a small rectangle. He tied the kid's arms behind the toilet with his old pants, locked the stall, and slid underneath the door. He checked himself in the mirror and realized that if he had make up, he could look like a member of kiss, just with a trench coat and a few more chains. He couldn't help but think he looked too old to be there but hell it was dark with fast flashing lights out there, so it didn't matter too much.

When Hikori exited the bathroom he came to a realization that he didn't see before. Roxy's was just an emptied warehouse with a bunch of booths set up for service and it did in fact have a second floor to it. Amazing what one can see from the bathroom door. Hikori knew right away that this made his job easier. All he had to do now was find some stairs and not be seen, but he also wanted to avoid question. Hikori scanned the place again and saw something that a bouncer was making sure nobody went up. Hikori thought to himself, 'Well there's my entry… Where's my distraction…?' Just as Hikori thought this some one excused himself past him and into the bathroom. An evil smile crossed Hikori's face as he turned around and entered the bathroom again.

Moments later Hikori ran over to the closest bouncer who happened to be the one standing in front of the stairs and Hikori put up a hell of a panicked front. "Dude! A couple of guys are beating the living shit out of each other in the bathroom!"

"What? Show me!" The large man dressed in a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt saying 'Roxy's Event Staff' followed Hikori to the bathroom. The bouncer saw two guys beaten to bloody hell sprawled out across the floor. "What the hell happened here?" The question was answered with a solid hit to the back of his head with the butt of Hikori's gun.

Hikori almost made his way up to the stairs with his lips whistling, but some skanky vampire girl stopped him. "Hey, you're cute. Wanna dance?"

Hikori had a better idea. "Hey lets skip that and just go make-out right now."

She smiled and said. "Ok!"

Half way up the stairs Hikori 'accidentally' tripped her and upon doing so she landed on her face with a broken nose getting ready to start crying. Hikori picked her up instantly and rushed her up the rest of the stairs in his arms and entered a softly lit hallway to find some security guy. "Hey! What are you two doing up here?"

Hikori rushed over to him and showed him the girl. "My girlfriend O.D-ed on Draino! The guy downstairs told me to bring her up here and lay her down!"

"Frankie said so?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, follow me! Does she need an ambulance?"

As the guy turned around Hikori noticed a lovely little taser in a holster on the man's side. "No, she does this all the time. She should stop crying in a few minutes."

Moments later Hikori was half out on an office with his new little high-voltage friend. "These things are cool…"

The girl he came up with yelled at him. "Hey! Don't leave me tied up in here you freak! Let me out!"

Hikori turned around, took off his show and then his sock, which he then rammed into her mouth and further fortified to with a roll of scotch tape he found on the desk she was tied to. "Shuddup."

He stood close to the door and pulled out his gun, and as he did that he pulled out his nifty silencer. He peaked out into the hallway and continued down when he was convinced that the coast was clear. He continued looking around corners carefully until he came to a door at the end of the hallway. He looked at the bottom and could see light coming out from underneath, so he put an ear to the door. He heard nothing but just to be safe he kicked in the door and made a quick assault upon the room. Luckily it was just a short man at a desk staring up with wide eyes at Hikori. "Hey there. Do you happen to be in charge of security?"

"Uhhh…"

Hikori held up the taser and his gun. "How you answer this question determines what weapon you get."

"I… Own the place…"

"Taser it is." Hikori pointed the instrument at the guy and he held up his hands in protest.

"WAIT! WAIT! What the hell do you what?"

"Buddy, I want to use this taser very badly, can't you at least resist a little?"

"Ahh! Money? I got money!"

Hikori nodded. "Hey good start. Can I get some security tapes too?"

"I-I don't have any security tapes!"

"Ok, time for the gun." Hikori held up the silenced 9mm and let a shot fly off towards the guy.

"Jesus! You don't understand! All our video feed goes straight to the police security system! Tapes are out dated!"

Hikori tapped his foot a couple of times, took a deep breath and gave himself some advice. "Don't get mad… Get sadistic…"

The guy behind the desk said, "What?"

Elsewhere in Nerima Ryouga and Sheela knocked on the doors to Jerry's place. A few seconds later a new designated door bitch answered and he called for Jerry. "They're here!"

"About fucking time!" Jerry came out of his back office and approached them. "Where the fuck's Ranma?"

Sheela gave Jerry a confused look. "He told you he couldn't make it… That's why we're here."

"Right!" Jerry waved them to come back to the office with him. They all sat down and Jerry pointed at a passed out Kuno on the floor. "That is my problem!"

Ryouga stared down at him for a few seconds and asked. "Is he dead?"

"No, he's not dead. He just stopped and fell the fuck down. I don't even know what did it. He just keeps going on about a pigtailed girl in his sleep."

Sheela looked down at Kuno and then back up at Jerry. "This is what you called us here for? This is fucking ridiculous!"

"No there was something else. I just want you guys to do something about him before you go."

"Oh, thank god… So what do ya want?"

"I need you guys to go get some incriminating evidence from the police station."

"Whoa! We don't do police stations." Jerry crossed his elegant arms and reach beneath his desk. A large duffle bag was pulled out and inside was a shit load of money. Sheela smiled and said, "But I guess there's a first time for everything. What would you like us to get?"

Hikori finished spraying lighter fluid all over the man behind the desk and asked calmly. "Now which precinct does the video footage go to?"

"I honestly can't tell you. Please man… Don't do this… Don't do something you'll regret later…"

"I don't regret anything I do. Now if you don't want me to find out if I can in fact light you on fire with this thing, then you better do something to save your ass." Hikori brought the taser close to the guys face and waited. "Well?"

The guy stayed calm as best he could. "Uhh… Maybe it'll tell you the dealer number on the system. I don't know what else to tell you."

Hikori thought for a second and asked. "What phone number do you call when you need footage, or a repair."

"I call detective Willis. He left his business card here a while ago, but I don't have it anymore."

"I think I can manage." Hikori was about to leave when the door was busted in for a second time that evening. "Did you press a button Mr. Roxy?"

Mr. Roxy leaned forward in his chair and yelled to the bouncers. "Kill this ass hole!"

Hikori had heard that phrase one too many times to take it lightly so he did what came to his mind first. He pointed his gun towards the door and emptied his clip. Four men dead, Hikori was now in for murder. Nothing new. He turned towards Mr. Roxy and said. "That was such a big mistake… You are so gonna get it." He held up the taser and let the prongs shoot into Roxy's chest. The guy started twitching all over the place but he failed to burst into flames. After a while Hikori got bored and released the trigger. "Why did you push the button Mr. Roxy?" Roxy gasped for breath and Hikori tasered him again. "That's not a very clear answer you know?"

Roxy got together his wits and managed to speak up. "You fucking piece of shit! I've got ya! You know that? I've fucking got ya!"

"Oh?"

"The police have a perfect video of you killing those guys. You're fucked!"

Hikori nodded. "I guess you're right. I suppose I should take out my vengeance upon you since I have the opportunity." Roxy's eyes went wide as Hikori held down the zap trigger, sending Roxy into vibrating mess. After a few moments Hikori stopped and smelled the air. "Did you just shit yourself man?" No response was heard. "You still alive?"

Roxy's chin sat at the top of his chest and a trail of spit made its way out of his mouth. He moaned signifying that he was still of this world. Hikori was about to change this. He calmly lit a smoke and pulled it away from hit lips. He leaned in close to Roxy and said. "You just had to be a dick head, didn't ya?" Then he pressed the hot end against Roxy's forehead and soon Roxy's face was up in flames. He remained tied to his chair desperately trying to hit the ground for a drop and roll. No such luck for him. As the man burned alive Hikori went around the office squirting lighter fluid on a few things and then lighting them on fire. To make these events look like an accident Hikori cut the burning Roxy loose and the body hit the floor. Hikori wasted no time getting the dead man up and running him through the one-way glass looking down into the club. The glass shattered and a burning dead man landed in the middle of the dance floor, and just as that happened, Hikori pulled the fire alarm switch. People started swarming out of the club in seconds and Hikori blended into the crowed carrying his girlfriend with a broken nose. Once he was out the doors he dropped her, took his sock back and climbed into his stolen car with his cell phone out. He shot down the road and dialed a few memorized numbers he got from Zero in case he ever need information.

An operator answered. "Hello, this is NPD main office. How may I help you?"

Hikori put on a thick cheesy French accent and started talking. "Bonjour. I ave ere a package for a mizster Detective Willis, but he failed to zell me where I could findz im."

"Is he expecting it?"

"Oui."

"Ok, his office is actually here at the main branch, but he isn't here right now. Would you like to leave it here with us and would you like directions?"

"Oui, oui. Fucking sweet." Hikori hung up and started heading for the NDP main branch. He started dialing numbers again and this time it was Zero. "Hey, I need a favor and I need one now."

"My services are always at a friends service. Now may I ask where that $30 you owe me may be hiding?"

"Please?"

(Faithless - Insomnia: That's right, I put shitty techno in here. How do ya like them apples? Any ways feel free to have fun and party hard. It is in fact your god given/devine right to do so. Hopefully I'll have something up by next friday. If I don't then continue to party hard. P.S. I got to keep my finger and this makes me happy. And when I'm in a good mood wonderful things happen, like that movie Titanic, just without Jack dying and the Titanic sinking... Actually those were the high points in the movie for me. See ya.)


	11. Too Legit To Quit

Too Legit To Quit

Ranma stood across the road from a large house with a beautiful garden out front. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and verified the address written by Bugsy. Since he didn't feel like going through the front gate he decided to find a new route somewhere behind the building and over the wall. 'Time to get this show started.'

Sheela and Ryouga were on the street across from the NPD main office building, scoping the place out. Sheela gave Ryouga a nudge and asked. "Well, what do you think we should do?"

Ryouga shrugged his normal shrug. "I don't know I've never done anything like this before."

"Come on, think big guy." Sheela waited patently for Ryouga to come up with something.

After a while Ryouga noticed Police cars going into an underground parking lot and vice versa. "Well… We could get a car and a couple on uniforms… Then I guess they'll let us in without too much question."

She ruffled his hair and said. "See? I knew you had a brain. Now lets go find ourselves some victims." Just down the street they found a couple of cops parked in an alley looking out for speeders. Sheela told Ryouga to wait while she dealt with them. Luckily the driver had his window down and Sheela approached holding her little pee-shooter gun limply by the barrel. "Excuse me officer. I found this in the garbage over there."

The officer was cautious and a little shocked when she approached, but he got out of his car and took the gun from her. "You did a good thing ma'am. Thank you. Can you tell me exactly where you found it? There may be more."

"Certainly officer." The policeman waved for his partner to follow and Sheela guided them to a garbage pail close by. "I saw it sitting on the top here."

"Thank you miss, we'll take it from here."

Ryouga watched from a distance as Sheela got behind the two officers and pulled out a secondary gun from her jacket. This one looked a lot heavier then the one she handed them. Before Ryouga could act he saw her point it at their backs and let off two suppressed shots. The officers let off quick shouts of pain, but soon they hit the ground and twitched a few times. Ryouga immediately ran over and pulled the gun out of Sheela's hand. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

Sheela pointed at the downed officers and said, "Look."

When Ryouga looked down he saw a couple of darts sticking out of their backs. He then looked at the thing in his hand and noticed the CO2 cartridge attached to it. "An air gun?"

She took it back and smiled. "Zero makes the coolest things. Why do you think I handed them the real one?"

Ryouga let out a breath of relief. "Oh wow… I thought you killed those guys…"

"You really think I'm like that?"

"W-well no…"

"Good. Now lets get changed and throw these guys in the trunk."

"They're both kinda big."

"What? Are you saying they're too heavy for you? I thought you were like super strong."

"No, I meant that the clothes are too big for you."

Sheela looked at them again, notice that the two men out did her by at least a clear foot in height and said, "Well shit… Maybe they won't notice?"

"You didn't really think this through, did you?"

"Not really… And this was actually your idea."

Ryouga sighed and started getting changed behind a dumpster. "Why'd I agree to help you?"

"Because you love me and you know it."

"I'm still mad about the bet."

"Good."

Ranma was on top of the roof of the building his informant was in. He kept examining the piece of paper he had and counted the windows. After a few seconds he thought to himself. 'Second in on the left or right? For fuck sakes Bugsy! At least make it clear!' Ranma tip-toed across the roof towards the closest out-sticking window. He turned the safety off on his gun, but kept it in his leather jacket. A light came from the window so Ranma looked in slowly being as cautious as he could. It didn't help because as he looked in there was an eight year old girl in a night gown staring right at him with a big smile revealing braces. "AHH!" Ranma slipped and he started sliding down. The little girl caught his hand and wedged herself on the window.

He stopped sliding, but the girl holding him was straining. Before he could tell her to let go she kept the big smile on her face and asked as she strained. "Are you Ranma? The Kyoto Hurricane?"

Ranma got a grip on the ledge and gave the girl back her hand and he said. "Marci?"

"Yeah!"

Ranma hushed her up. "Quiet kid! You're my informant?"

"Yay! Daddy really sent you!"

Ranma's eye twitched. 'I'm going to kill him…' "Bugsy is your dad?"

Marci nodded cutely and said, "Yeah, and I'm your biggest fan. I've heard so much about you, but I never thought you'd look so cool!"

"I was supposed to pick up a package!"

"Yeah, I'll tell you were it is in a sec, but please. Can I have your autograph? Please! Please!"

Ranma gave up right then and there. "…Sure… Got a pen?"

Sheela was driving wearing her baggy new cop outfit and Ryouga sat in the passenger seat sweating bullets. "S-so we're just gonna drive up and they'll let us in?"

Sheela shrugged. "I don't know. I've never robbed a cop shop before."

"Damnit…" Just as Ryouga slouched in his seat he saw a red light flashing down the street. "What the hell is that?"

Sheela leaned over the steering wheel to watch a metal shutter open up. "They're dispatching a cop, but if that light is flashing then that means it's a serious emergency…" A few seconds later seven cop cars shot out and that's when Sheela floored it. "And it also means we have our way in!"

Ryouga grabbed the 'holy-shit' handle located just to the right of his head and braced himself. "Careful! You almost hit that Supra!"

Sheela stopped spinning the tires as she exited her corner and got behind the speeding white car, which oddly enough seemed to be heading in the same direction as they were. "Where the hell is this guy going? Awe nuts. He probably thinks we trying to catch him for-." The Supra braked hard and soon all four tires were spinning as it drifted in the middle of the street and cleanly into the underground parking lot. Sheela thought it out again as she pulled the same move right behind him. "Or he may be employed here…"

Ryouga still had an iron grip on the 'holy-shit' handle while yelling. "Slow! THE fuck! Down!"

As they entered the cop shop underground parking lot, the lights started to flicker and soon they were off. "Sheela looked around as she speed through the lot in the dark. "What the-." A moment later the emergency lights came on and Sheela screamed as the car headed towards a cement pillar. "AHH! FUCKFUCKFUCK!" She slammed on the brakes and spun the car around and doing so she swung the cars back end right into the slab, ripping it off the police cruiser. They took a few moments to calm down and they both looked back at the now missing trunk and half of the back seat. "That wasn't my fault!"

"I told you to slow down and-! Shit! Those guys were back there!" Ryouga undid his seat belt and went out the door to find the wreckage. Sheela followed behind him and kneeled down beside him. Ryouga had his fingers against one guys neck and he let loose a breath of relief. "Thank god… They're alive…" A shot was fired and the two hit the ground flat. "What the hell was that?"

Sheela pulled out her little pee-shooter and said. "A gun sweetie. You might want to pull yours out too." Ryouga fished around in his pants for his gun and eventually pulled it out. "I really hope you had the safety on."

"Why?"

Sheela didn't have the heart to tell him the he was going to blow his balls off one of these days so she changed the topic by returning fire. "DIE ASSHOLE!"

She let off three shots and ducked back down. Another shot was fired and a voice sounding strikingly like Hickori's ask. "Trisha?"

Sheela pointed the gun over the car in a random direction and shot off two more rounds. "Garry?"

"You know him? Who's Garry? And why is he shooting at us?"

Sheela gave Ryouga a nudge and spoke quietly. "We don't use our real names when doing a job. Yours is Frankie."

Another shot passed over their hands and Hikori yelled. "Come out!"

"I never agreed to be called Frankie."

Sheela pointed the gun over the hood again and shot. "Stop shooting then!"

Hikori let off two rounds and yelled. "You stop shooting then!"

"No you!" Sheela got up this time and let out three rounds.

"I'm in charge damnit!" Hikori shot again. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Will you two please stop shooting at each other!"

Sheela emptied her clip this time. "He started it!"

Hikori did the same. "Did not!"

"Fuck! You guys!"

"Look kid, I'm not going to read Green Eggs and Ham again. I'm not a babysitter, I'm a dangerous criminal and I'm just here to pick up a package."

"Please?"

"No! Fuck off! Tell me were it is!"

"You're not a very nice man. You say bad words…"

Thoughts of strangling the kid exited Ranma quickly and he kept his cool. "Look, I'm a busy guy. I've got felonies to commit and people to rip off. As much as I'd love to read you a bedtime story for the ninth time, I've got shit to do."

Marci bowed her head. "Ok… You don't like me… I get it…"

"No! I just want to know what I came here to pick up. I wasn't expecting THIS."

A knock on the door was heard moments later and Ranma rolled onto the floor beside the bed. A rent-a-cop opened the door and asked. "Is every thing ok in here? I heard something."

Marci held up her copy of Green Eggs and Ham and said. "I'm reading you stupid sonovabitch! Get out of here before I have mommy fire your whistle blowing ass!"

The guy stared wide-eyed at the little girl and closed the door slowly. A couple moments passed and Ranma got up and looked down at the smiling little girl. He crossed his arms and said. "I like you kid. Lets read Green Eggs and Ham one more time."

"Yay!"

Ryouga now had both Sheela and Hikori handcuffed the door of the Supra and he was pissed. "Ok, Hikori. Why the hell are you here?"

"My name is Garry!"

"Garry! Why the hell are you here!"

"Your guys' little break-in at Roxy's was recorded and that video is in this police station."

"How do you know it's here?"

"The owner told me."

Ryouga rubbed his head. "How do you know they won't come after us?"

"Because I killed him."

"Why the hell did you kill him Garry?"

"He made people shoot at me."

Sheela nodded her head. "Yeah, that sounds reasonable."

"Stay out of this Tasha!"

"Trisha!"

"Trisha! Stay out of this!"

"Now why is the power out?"

Hikori scratched his nose and said. "Zero did it. To cover my entry."

Ryouga nodded. "Ok. I just wanted to be filled in." He unlocked Hikori and looked down at Sheela.

"What?"

"Don't shoot at your teammate!"

"You don't have to yell…"

Ryouga uncuffed her and leaned against the hood of the white car. "Well, I find it amazing that no one has heard us…"

Hikori nodded. "This is true. Now lets go get what we came here to get."

"Wait, don't you want to know why we're here?"

"Nope. The second I know, I become an accomplice."

Ryouga stood in shock and tried to figure it out. "But… You already are… an accomplice…"

"Details, details. Let's go Frankie."

Hikori took off his coat and hooked a belt around his waist while Ryouga followed behind the two with an angry look. "Wait! This Frankie thing was already decided? HEY! Don't ignore me! And we need a plan!"

"I do have a plan. I'm here to fix the generator, and now I have some escorts."

"What about what 'we' have to do?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"This isn't fair!"

Sheela put her arm around him and calmed him down. "He's just pulling you leg, he'll help us. Because if he doesn't…" Sheela pressed her dart gun up against Hikori's ass and he froze immediately. "He'll regret it."

Hikori turned slightly with a nervous smile. "H-hey. I was gonna help don't worry."

Ranma closed the book and got up. "There. How's that?"

"Perfect. I guess I can tell you where it is."

"About time."

"If you go out the window to the left, you should see mommy's green house down there. I tied a blue ribbon around the bag just like daddy asked."

"Cool. I might see you around some time Marci."

Marci smiled showing off those braces again. "Then you can tell me about the electric fish incident!"

"That story is for grown-ups, so I'll need your dad's permission to tell you ok?"

"Ok… But I only get to talk to him on the phone ever weekend."

"Well, I'll put in a good word for you, how's that work for you?"

"Fine. Bye Mr. Hurricane." Marci waved cutely and exited through the window.

He stood on the roof with his hands at his hips and a smile on his face. 'Cute kid… Cute kid… Bugsy's still dead though.' Ranma was about to climb down when a pair of small hands pushed the backs of his legs.

"Some one's coming! Go!" Ranma didn't have much choice as he fell off the roof face first and into bunch of bushes that hurt more then they should have. He tried his best to catch his breath as he heard Marci yelling again. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU? GET OUT YOU FUCKING JIZZ MONKEY! THIS IS A SERIOUS INVASION OF PRIVACY! I'M GONNA TELL MOMMY ON YOU WHEN SHE GETS BACK FROM ITALY! AND THEN MY DADDY"S GONNA SEND GUIDO THE KNIFE AFTER YOU! YA HEAR ME! "

Ranma moaned as he rolled off the shrub and made his crawl to the green house. 'Hate… kids… so… much…! Those are bastardizations of my lines too!'

Hikori was handcuffed as the three made it through the darkened hallways and towards the evidence room conveniently shown on a map of the building. "Why am I handcuffed again?"

"Because you'll run away from us if you aren't."

Hikori nodded at Sheela. "Oh, right. Are you guys sure you really need-."

Ryouga held a stern look on his face as he held Hikori's arm. "We're not speaking with the captive criminal."

"You guys suck…"

Ryouga stopped to look at another map on the wall, but Sheela already knew the way. He let go of Hikori and ran his fingers along the lines. "Gotta go left twice… go down the hall… no… Is this north? Wait… Straight up isn't north… is it? Hey Shee…" Ryouga looked behind himself to see, not a whole lot. A cop passed him and gave him a friendly nod and soon Ryouga was feeling kind of scared. "Guys…? Oh, no…"

Ranma was back at Bugsy's place and he was pissed. "You sent me there to get you a bag of shit from your ex-wife's place! Bugsy! You're a dick!"

Bugsy was laughing as he opened the bag and took a whiff. "This is fertilizer and damn good stuff. I need to know where she gets it."

"Damnit Bugsy! If you didn't have such a cute kid I'd shoot your fucking ass right now!"

Bugsy kept his smile. "Come on. It wasn't that bad was it? And I think with the exchange we made you got the better deal."

Ranma put down the chair he was about the wail Bugsy with and bobbed his head to the side. "That's true I guess. But I was expecting something a little more dangerous, you know. Like something having to do with not reading your kid a bed time story."

"You read her a story? You're a lot nicer then I thought man."

"Fuck you."

"But I guess I'll come clean. The bag of shit was only half of what I wanted. My daughter, well she's a big fan you see."

"I noticed…"

"I take it you don't know where I'm coming from here."

"Not really."

"How can I explain this kid? I'm a nice guy like you, ya know?"

"Hurry this up please."

"You know my side business, right? Human trade. Do you frown upon that by chance?"

"A little yes. Where's this going Bugsy?"

"I'll get to it, just wait. Lots of people don't know that but human trade isn't the same as slave labor as many like to make it out to be, it's actually a form of boarder jumping. Now people that border jump are usually looking for a better life, so I help them with this."

"So you're a transport service, great. Get to the point Bugsy."

"I'm all about helping people Mr. Saotome. I'm a guy that loves my job and therefore excel at it. I've heard about all the events that occurred, and I've done a little bit of a background check. You've had it rough, and I've decided to help you lighten that load."

"A bit risky don't you think? What's the catch?"

"I don't have catches Mr. Saotome, I'm straight up when I trust someone."

"And why is it you trust me?"

"You respected my family and my friends. Jerry and I go way back, even before high school and to this day we are best friends. How can I not help someone one of my friends recommends? Jerry may have said that he wants you out of here, but that's just the 'tough guy' act. He's about as excited, as I am to find you back here. He wants to see how far he can go with you in this business and I want to help you find your girl. I'm offering a friendship here Mr. Saotome. Friends trust each other and help each other out."

"So you guys want an easy meal ticket through me?"

"Nothing's easy and you know it. We'll help you as much as you help us. It's only fair."

"I don't like talking to fellow criminals about fairness."

"I understand, but just remember. If you run into trouble you can always find me here. I'm not out to screw you over, I'm out to start a friendly relationship."

Ranma got up and started heading out. "Well, that's very nice of you Bugsy. I'll be sure to stop in and have some tea with you one of these days, maybe we can water flowers too and then we can have a slumber party and braid each others chest hair and-." A guy holding a shotgun out for him to take stopped Ranma in his tracks. "Dude! Parting gifts."

"You'd best take it Mr. Saotome."

"Done."

"And you may want to watch the T.V for a second."

"Oh?"

Bugsy turned on a shitty little 13" screen T.V and put it on channel 3. Ranma watched for a few seconds and soon he was starting to look angry. "Those fucking retards…"

'Breaking news with Channel 3 news. The police station was broken into just under an hour ago and there is now an apparent shoot-out within the building. We'll take you to it live in the chopper. Wayne.'

'Thanks Deb. Down below you can see flashes of light coming from within the building and there are reports coming in that terrorist wielding heavy firearms and long signature purple clubs are attacking the main NDP branch from within. Down on the ground we have with us Cox with Detective Wilis.'

'It's Knox Wayne and look forward to your unemployment in three days. Detective Wilis, can you give us an idea of what's going on inside?'

'Not really Cox, in case you are blind, or just plain stupid I'm currently standing outside the building with you. Now can you please go away so I can do my job?'

'A lot of help he was. Back to you Deb.'

Ranma took the shotgun and asked for a phone.

"WHY DID YOU CLUB HIM WITH THE DILDO HIBIKI?"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS? I GOT SCARED WHEN HE CAME AROUND THE CORNER!"

Sheela let off some shots from behind a large metal box and started shaking Ryouga violently. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING IN THE FUCKING SHOWER ROOM TO BEGIN WITH?"

Ryouga let some shot fire off into the roof as he yelled back. "I WAS LOST! YOU ASSHOLES DITCHED ME!"

"STOP WASTEING AMMO!"

"You guys should have listened to me. All of this could have been avoided you know?"

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?"

"Easy. I just am, Frankie."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT! I'M GONNA TELL THEM YA MADE ME DO IT!"

"That's fine."

Sheela grabbed Ryouga's gun and did a duel wield fire display. "DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE! SOME ONE CALL RANMA!"

"He won't help much."

"GIVE ME BACK MY GUN!"

Ranma jumped a mid-size pick-up truck full of people half way across a bridge as he sped into the direction of the cop shop. "Every one loaded up?"

10 guys all said yes in some form or another. "Good. Any one get a hold of Jerry yet?"

A random arm reached forward and said, "I've got him on the line right now."

"Hello?"

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

"Hi sweetie. Can you help me out with something?"

"Cheese grater right up your rectum! You hear me?"

"Thanks, I'll meet you guys at Ricky's all night grill in two minutes."

"I don't owe you fucking anything!"

"You're the best baby."

The random arm took the phone back and some one beside him asked. "You know Jerry's a guy right?"

Ranma gave his shotgun a push and said. "You know the barrel of this thing is right against your testicals right?"

"Uhh…"

"Yeah, so maybe you should shut up."

The three scattered down the police halls dodging bullets from every direction. Sheela found the armory and they were more loaded then Rambo now. Sheela was covering their escape with a hail of bullets. A bullet whizzed past Ryouga's face and he fell back scared. "Oh god! I think I'm hit! I'm ringing! Oh, god I'm ringing! I told you we should have turned ourselves in!"

Hikori reached calmly into Ryouga's jacket and pulled out his phone. "You're a real spaz you know? Hello, this is Frankie's phone."

"Hey, how's it going over there? Got anything you'd like to share with me."

Hikori shrugged over the gunfire and said. "Oh, not much, just a shoot out in the police station. Nothing too exciting."

"Oh, cool. So how's that going for you?"

Before Hikori answered Sheela ripped the phone out of his hand and yelled into it. "You WILL save me Ranma!"

"Oh, hi Sheela. So, uh what's new?"

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Oh, come on I'm just having fun with ya. Hey I've got a question for ya."

"This isn't the time!"

"Please?"

"WHAT?"

"What's worse then an invasion of a police station?"

"I don't know!"

"Look out the window and I'll show ya." Sheela look out the window just in time to see the building across the street explode on three different floors. Then cars around the area started going up in flames. "The answer is them knowing I'm here. Get ready to run. There'll be a pick-up behind the police station. Don't ask who the driver is, just get the fuck in and be thankful I have a friend."

"I LOVE YOU!"

"I know, now hurry up, I don't want to see you dead. Oh, and bring them all back please."

Sheela hung up the phone and started pulling her two comrades. "We're leaving."

Hikori nodded and helped Ryouga to his feet. "Oh, about time. Did we get every thing?"

"Yes! The evidence room is on fire and the database has received a Zero special. Let's go."

"I like it. I'll take two."

"We're gonna die… We're gonna die!"

Ranma stood on the roof of the restaurant with Jerry beside him. "Thanks Jerry."

"Blow it out your ass…"

"It's not my fault they're incompetent."

"You guys are supposed to be legendary. What the hell is with all this? All I see are screw ups."

Ranma shrugged, sat down, loaded the sniper rifle in his hands and pointed it up. "There's no rule stating that you can't both be a screw-up and legendary at the same time. We're legendary screw-ups. How's that?"

"What the hell are you aiming at?"

"The news chopper."

Jerry lit a cigar and asked. "You ever use one of those things before?"

"Guess."

"So, you aiming for the pilot?"

"Guess."

Jerry blew out some smoke and said. "You want me to stop talking don't you?"

"It would help me aim, yes."

'Back to Wayne in the Chopper. Wayne?'

'Deb, all I can say is that it's turning into reckless carnage below. Things are blowing up, people are getting hurt and I have an alarming amount of hair spray applied to keep me through it. All I can say now is-."

'We seem to have lost Wayne, from the sounds of it, it's seems to be technical errors. For a recap of these events…'

Jerry's cigar almost dropped out of her mouth as she pulled away the binoculars and watched Ranma cocked the gun. "Holy Hanna. You actually hit the camera."

"Told you I could hit it on my first shot."

Jerry pulled out a twenty and handed it to him. "Lucky shot…"

Ranma aimed again but this time at the cop shop. "How's about this. I'll take off the tip of a cops nose with this."

Jerry shook his hand and said. "You're on, but not the entire nose, just the tip."

"I know what I said…" Ranma took aim. "Second floor, fifth window on the right."

"I see em'." Ranma let a shot go and Jerry watched. "Awe for fuck sakes…" She pulled out another twenty and handed it to him.

"Third floor, Ryouga's bandana."

"I don't even care if I lose this one, I just want to see it." Ranma let a shot go and a high-pitched shriek was heard from a block away. "Wow… You earn your money. I'll give you that."

"Wanna keep going?"

"Nah, I'm out of cash. So what was the other part of this gay little plan of yours?"

"It'll be in another five minutes or so. I have to wait till they're out of there."

"You have to pay me back for all these explosives, you know that right."

"We're keeping your skinny little ass out of jail Jerry, you should be more then happy to use up these things."

"You think my ass is skinny?"

"Now is not a time to get self conscious."

"Well, I was trying to drop a few pounds…"

"Oh, well you succeeded then."

"You really think so?" Jerry turned around and tried to take a look at his ass.

"Can we please get off the topic of your ass? I know you're proud of your figure, but in all honesty I don't really care."

"But you think I dropped a few pounds, right?"

"I don't want to have this conversation! Let's go, we gotta hurry anyways."

Hikori pushed the back door open slowly and took a peek out to make sure it was all good. He motioned his hand to tell the two behind him to stay put until he gave the ok. Hikori took a chance and stepped out. The carnage at the front of the building was heard but it was quiet out back. 'You better have a plan Ranma…' He moved slowly out into the lot and after a few moments he took a look around a realized that it was too quiet. Instead of running he put his hands up and waited patiently. After a few seconds men in SWAT suits came out of the shadows and all around. "Well shit."

A man leading the team started to approach him. "Keep your hands in the air and away from your gun. If you move we'll shoot. Get down on your knees and keep your hands in the air."

Hikori did as he was told and cursed Ranma's name as a man behind him pulled his hands together and cuffed him. "Where are the others asshole."

Hikori gave him the finger and said. "I work alone."

The doors swung open and both Ryouga and Sheela were in cuffs trying to resist arrest. The SWAT man gave Hikori a push and said. "Is that so?"

Sheela was kicking and screaming the entire time as Ryouga tried his best to stay calm and pray to god that every thing was going to work out. "I'LL KILL YA ALL! YOU FUCKING HEAR ME! I'LL KILL YA ALL! AND IF I CAN'T THEN RANMA WILL! LET ME GO YOU PIG-FUCKING FAGS!"

A SWAT van pulled up and the three were tossed in the back immediately and soon the SWAT team joined them. Sheela was gagged but still kicking as every one sat calmly, with the exception of Ryouga and Sheela. Hikori just remained calm as always. The van started moving and Sheela started kicking harder. The drive went on for about eight minutes until it started slowing down and came to a stop. Every one sat quietly as the various noises were heard about the Van and in another couple minutes it started moving again. Four minutes later it stopped again and one of the smaller SWAT members took off his mask. Ryouga sat scared as he said, "Jerry!"

Sheela started kicking again and managed to get the gag off. "You set us up you fucking bitch! Ranma's gonna kill you!"

"It was Ranma's plan." Jerry got out with the rest and soon the sight of a familiar cargo bay was seen. "And he stayed behind to make sure you got out, so I'd be thankful. The guy's got balls."

The three were uncuffed and untied. Hikori was the first one out. "Kinda figured something was up. Don't see too many SWAT guys carry sawed-off shotguns and hunting riffles."

Sheela was back in her happy state, but still worried. "This is true. But where is he?"

Ryouga got out next and saw a T.V. on channel three. "He's on t.v…"

Every one instantly ran towards the T.V and started watching.

'Knox here in chopper two. Down below you can see an enraged lunatic battling the police as we speak. He is currently holding an officer hostage at gun-point.'

Hikori nodded. "Good… He keeps moving around… Snipers won't be able to hit him…"

Sheela wasn't going to watch she was going to do something about it. She pulled Jerry towards her and demanded a ride. "Give me something fast and fucking durable."

Jerry pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and handed them to her. "You're funeral. The next bay over has my car collection. Take the Cuda, if you're planning a rescue. Just remember, if you actually make it back alive, you're paying for it."

Sheela didn't answer and just ran for the next hangar. Hikori went after her, but she was long gone before he could jump in. "Fuck…"

Ryouga came up beside him and asked. "Shouldn't we follow her?"

Hikori shook his head. "No… I've noticed something about Ranma in the time I've known him… He tends to put other people's lives above his own… I though he sounded weird on the phone… The fucking guy didn't plan far enough to get out of this alive. Let Sheela handle this, ok. When she's determined, she's more dangerous then he is."

"We can't leave them Hikori…"

"If you go, you'll be killed. Just keep that in mind, ok?"

"Well, I can't just sit here!"

Hikori pulled his shirt and brought them nose-to-nose. "Yes you can and yes you will. You know how much shit I'll be in if I let you go? You're like his best friend or something."

Ryouga got into a car and started looking around for keys. "I'm not his fucking friend. I don't want to help him, and I fucking hate him!"

Hikori leaned into the window and asked. "So why do you want to go so badly then?"

Ryouga stopped for a second and after a few moments of though he screamed and started beating the steering wheel of the car. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Jerry came in and chloroformed Ryouga while he was in his rage. A few seconds with a rag to his face, he passed out and hunched over the steering wheel. Jerry put the bottle on the hood of the car and lit a cigar. "So, do you think he's gonna make it?"

Hikori shrugged. "He's done so many stupid things, that it's hard to say. All those crazy stuns that made him famous were all mostly covers for us. It's always been dangerous, but he's never outright confronted the police like this. I've got a bad feeling, but I think Sheela might be able to help."

"What can she do? She's not built for a fight."

"It's like that old saying, Jerry. It's not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog, and let me note now that she's one crazy bitch."

Jerry shook her head and took another puff of the Cuban. "No wonder you guys are famous. Two of you taking on the entire police force, blowing shit up without thinking of consequences. There's no ifs, ands, or buts. You guys are crazy."

"I'm not. I'm the seasoned professional, Sheela's the psycho chick, Zero's the nerdy genius idea guy, and Ranma's the die-hard tough guy that'll get anything done no matter what. If you think about it, it's a nice combination of players in our little ring of mayhem."

"You're still crazy."

Ranma held the gun to the officer's head as he tried to talk his way out of captivity. "C'mon buddy. Don't do anything irrational."

"I think it's a little late for that Detective Willis. I'm kinda between a rock and a hard spot in case you haven't noticed."

"We can talk this through man. We can get you help."

"My only trouble is a bunch of guys with guns, other then that I'm mostly sane."

"There's always something bugging you guys. I know a great physiatrist."

"I'm sure you do, but you know who I am, so don't play dumb with me. I can see the snipers up there and in case you're wondering, the rumor is true."

Willis went quiet for a moment as Ranma continued to move around and keep himself in an open area. "Which one? I've heard a lot, but if you're referring to bullet catching then I'd say you're full of shit punk."

"Careful what you say detective. I may be a psychopath."

"You're not getting out of this. You're either going to be caught or shot, take your pick."

"You really thought I didn't have a plan for this?"

"How could you possibly get away? This area's closed for two blocks, nothing comes in and nothing goes out."

"Let make a bet then. If I can get away, then the next time I have a gun to your head, you hand me twenty bucks."

"There won't be a second time."

"Sure there will." Ranma made a move that caught every one off guard. He let go of he detective and gave the back of his head a quick and almost unseen strike and then he set up the illusion. Before the detective could fall to the ground unconscious he pointed the gun at the back of his head and let a shot go off right beside it. There were shouts as everyone thought Ranma just iced the detective, and then he made his run.

(MC Hammer – Too Legit To Quit: Hello, I've been naughty. Spank me. I know I've taken extra long doing the chapter and in all honesty I had all the free time in the world to do it. Why didn't I do it? Well as much as I hate wrestling, I love the games. Not so much the stars themselves either, but the created characters you can make. Lately I've had the Pope fight the undertaker in a Three Stages of Hell match. I've made Batman fight Spider man just to see who'd win. They have the DBZ hair cuts so I made Vegita. And it's nice to be the world heavy weight champion with an enraged 8 foot Scottish man named Iron Balls Mackenzie. Hell I've decided to have the Scotland title with a 6-man tornado title match between Chrome Dong MacGintey, Titanium Tits MacCoy, Steel Shlong MacDonald, Rusty Nuts MacGyver, Bloody Knuckles MacDuff, and Iron Balls Mackenzie. I'll update a bit more frequently because I've managed to play the game to hell and back, so I now have writing time back in my weekly fan-fic budget. Have fun and party Hard.)


	12. Victory

Victory

Sheela had the Cuda floored and bolting towards the new suburban war zone. She fumbled around with a submachine gun as she shifted and took a corner sharp. The back end swung out and left a piercing screech in its wake. She was moments away from her destination and she was pissed. "Ranma you fucking idiot!"

Ranma ran through the streets dodging bullets and finding salvation behind mailboxes and dumpsters. He couldn't tell where every one was and wasting ammo was a bad idea right now. He had a shotgun with fifteen rounds and two handguns with thirty rounds, making an overall of forty-five shots. He held his shotgun tight and listened to the sounds. The cops were shooting in sequence and carefully so not to hit anyone or anything they didn't want to hit. It was a weak advantage for Ranma but an advantage nonetheless. Shot from one side stopped so they were more then likely moving, meaning he'd follow right behind them and figure out how get out of this tedious little two-block evacuation zone.

Hikori watched the television screen while dialing a couple numbers on his cell. "Hey Zero. Thanks for cutting the power back there, but I'm going to need a little more." Hikori listened to Zero for a minute and started looking pissed off. "Turn on the T.V you bastard head!" Hikori went silent for a second again and started sounding even more pissed. "I'm not talking about Wheel of fucking Fortune! Go to channel three, tell me what you see, and make that picture go away." Hikori waited and nodded a few times. "Yeeeesssss, Ranma's in trouble. I want this picture to disappear, and I don't want those cops to be able to talk to each other-… Huh…? What do you mean you can't do anything about it? You're useless. I'm firing you right now… Oh, so you know a guy that knows a guy that lives next door to another guy that owes you a favor. Who?… You've never met him… But he's great at Counter Strike, gawd Zero! You're a grown man for fuck sakes. Get him to do what ever it is he can do and do it fast."

Jerry watched the screen and asked. "So what's happening?"

"He knows a guy that works with a T.V satellite station. He's gonna block off all the signals, but he can't do much about the police radios."

"Shitty… Hey, has anyone seen Jerico?"

Jerico was watching the scene on television in awe, with the rest of the bar. "Wow… He wasn't kidding when he said he had to go take care of something…"

"Can I buy you a drinky Mr. Barkeep?"

"No, and don't touch me." Moments later the screen turned to white static and the entire bar went into an uproar. "What the fucks going on?"

Ranma was pegged behind a minivan parked on the side of the road and not seeing too many options in which way he should go. "Gee, I can either be shot to hell or shot to shit…"

A megaphone from a police chopper was heard overhead as Ranma tried to figure out his escape. "This is the NDP. You are completely surrounded. Put your weapons down and surrender asshole."

Ranma couldn't help but roll that thought around in his head. 'Sure I can surrender, but I'm sure they got either a cell with a life sentence or an electric chair ready for me. Need to save Akane though… Fuck that, I need to save myself first… Can't run out shooting… Think you fucking moron! Think!' Ranma's thought was interrupted by a huge tank of a car heard peeling around a corner and through a police roadblock. 'Awe crap… It's Sheela… Now I'm in shit…'

A few cops got in her way as she sped towards the center of the police aim. She didn't slow down and let two cops go rolling across her hood, and a third got acquainted with the undercarriage of the car. Her charge didn't last long though, the cops forgot Ranma for a moment and let loose a few shots at Sheela's tires. A lucky shot hit the front left tire and now the speeding Cuda was a flipping Cuda, rolling down the street. Ranma didn't waste too much time and ran after the vehicle now skidding on its passenger side door. The car came to a halt and Ranma kicked out the windshield immediately. He leaned in for the rescue and received a sturdy fist across his face. "I'm going to kill you!"

Ranma shook it off and pulled her out. "What the hell are you thinking coming here? I got your ass out of here and now you come back?"

Before Sheela could go up and down both sides of him, an odd silence caught their ears momentarily and then a command was shouted. "FIRE!"

"SHIT!" Ranma covered Sheela beside the roof as the bullets hit the bottom of the car.

Sheela got Ranma off of her, pulled out her SMG, stood up and released Hell. "Don't fuck with us!"

Ranma stayed on the ground and covered his head as she went at them. After her clip emptied he grabbed her leg and pulled her to the ground as a sniper round came close to hitting her. "Don't stand up! We can't win this shoot out, we gotta run!"

Sheela wacked Ranma and asked. "Where the hell to?"

"I'm trying to figure that out… What are you sitting on?"

"The ground you idiot."

"No you're sitting on a man hole. As usual you're ass has shown me salvation."

"FIRE!" The bullets hit the car again and this time some made their way through. It was this that started to tip the car.

"Oh, shi-!" Ranma twisted onto his back and braced his legs against the edge of the roof. The car stopped tipping, but it wasn't doing Ranma any good. "You just had to find the heaviest fucking car!" Ranma's face started turning red as he did his best to keep it up.

Sheela pulled out her Swiss army knife and started working on the bolts holding the manhole closed. "Just keep that thing up for me ok sweetie?"

"A Swiss army knife? You're using a Swiss army knife?"

"Don't doubt my Swiss army knife. This thing has saved my life more times then I've saved yours." Sheela started picking away at the rust between the bolts and Ranma was getting angry.

"You can not be serious! I can't hold this thing up forever you know?"

Sheela kept working away at loosening the bolts. "I'm not hearing any faith over here."

"Fine! I believe! I believe in the fucking knife!"

"Good, now I'm going to need some man muscle."

Ranma looked at the car creeping lower to him and then at Sheela. "I'm kinda busy here babe."

"We've been through this before, it's called foreplay, but in this case multitasking. You're hands are in fact free."

Ranma reached over and started twisting hard with clamped fingers. "You cold bitch…"

Sheela lent a hand with the weight of the car, by pushing her back against the roof and pushing up. "Just hurry up! Left! Turn it left!"

"I am turning it left!" Another couple of shots went off and a canister of tear gas was shot close to them. "Oh, hell no!" Sheela gave up her support on the car and exchanged it for getting mad, reloading the SMG and firing away while swearing profusely. "H-Hey! Can you focus?"

Sheela got back into position and Ranma got a bolt out. "I've got three more."

"Get them out!"

Ranma muscled up and unscrewed another bolt above his head. 'Two…' Shots went off again and he felt the weight of the car direct itself on top of him. As he pulled with the third he slipped and broke a nail in half causing him to jerk and drop the car a little lower. "Fuck…" He blocked out the pain and went back at it with full force. The third bold popped out and Ranma grabbed the knife on the ground. He unfolded the bottle opener and used it like a wrench. The fourth bolt squeaked as it came undone and a few seconds later he pried it open with the screwdriver. Sheela abandoned her position again and helped move the cover. "Get in!"

Sheela slid in and Ranma was once again trying to figure out how to get out of his position of death. It was then when he heard an angry voice yell, "Who threw that grenade?"

Ranma heard something metallic hit the ground close by and then he saw it rolling towards him. His body tensed up and his eyes went wide. "OH, FUCK!"

Sheela reached up and pulled his shoulders dragging him in backwards into the hole and the car followed by blocking the hole with its roof. The two fell into the sludge below as an explosion was heard from above. A few seconds passed and Ranma pushed himself up and was not satisfied with his surroundings. He turned to help Sheela up but she was already flying at him with open arms. "We're alive!" She latched her arms around his neck, swung 90 degrees and accidentally pulled Ranma back into the septic sludge. It didn't seem to bother her as she started kissing Ranma violently. "You're alive! I'm alive! We're alive together! This is great!"

A feminine voice protested the attention and pushed Sheela off. "We are NOT making out down here! This is gross, I'm unhappy, and we're taking a shower ASAP."

Sheela looked at the now female Ranma and said. "Oh, I thought you were a bit too squishy."

Ranma looked at herself and then at her surroundings in shock horror. "Oh, god… There's shit… EVERYWHERE!"

Sheela looked at her arms and then at the browy-yellow sludge they were standing in. "I think I'm gonna hurl…"

"No! Don't add to it!"

A few hours later Ryouga was awake again and he was pacing. Hikori had his smoke in his mouth as normal and the scene in the cargo bay was pretty much quiet. Jerry was in his office for the most part taking calls and doing business as always, but one call was from Bugsy. "So you think he's alive?"

"He better be fucking alive. You know how much C4 he used? That guy owes me a lot of money."

Bugsy shrugged on the other end of the line as walked through his shop. "I guess that means you're worried about him. I've a couple of guys working you-know-where that told me no bodies have been found. I can't say I have any good news about your car though."

"Great, they broke my fucking car too. What is this bullshit?"

"I don't know. But I think they got away. I guess he's famous for a reason. What do you think we should do now Jerry?"

"Collect my money that's what we'll do. Also sent someone tough to his mothers place, she may know where that thieving little bastard is hiding."

"So, we'll look for them and send some protection over to his mom's place. That's kinda generous Jerry. Who'd you have in mind?"

"Send Jimmy the Ice Pick. I'll have my boys search around."

"Got it. Talk to ya later." Bugsy hung up the phone and called up a hired dumb muscle he had. A few rings went by and the phone was picked up.

"Joe's Pizza. May I take your order?"

"Jimmy, it's me. I'm gonna need you to do a little bit of watch dog work. Are ya busy?"

"Nope. Should I bring my ice pick?"

"I'd prefer a gun, but I suppose you can take both. I don't want ya to kill any one; I just need ya to look after a couple of ladies for me and for the love of Pete that doesn't mean try to fuck them. I don't want to go through this again, the last time was embarrassing and I've seen men killed for less."

"Sorry boss."

"No problem, we learn from our mistakes. That reminds me. How're those anger management courses going?"

Ranma and Sheela were at a nice little motel, with out permission. You don't exactly want to ask for a room while covered from head to toe in shit, so one usually has to make due with the situations at hand… and neither of them had any cash on them anyways.

Ranma stayed in the shower a bit longer then Sheela and after he was done he came out to find her laying on the bed with a blank stare at the ceiling. "You ok?"

She shook her head and looked ready to cry. "I can still feel it on me…"

"You're not alone." He reached into the mini-fridge and pulled out a Fanta. 'Oooo, Fanta.' "You want anything?"

"A full body scrub down with an SOS Pad would be nice."

"I think I saw some under this sink in there."

Sheela smile and rolled onto her side. "Stop trying to make me feel better. I want to be bitter and angry right now."

Ranma got on the bed with her and rubbed her shoulder. "You can at least take comfort in knowing that there is a man out there, whose job it is to swim around in that crap and make sure nothing too big is making its way through the pipes."

Sheela chuckled a bit rolled onto her back. "That's sick, but probably true."

Ranma picked up the remote and flicked on the TV. "You wouldn't believe what they have in some magazines." Ranma started channel surfing, but stopped when he heard Sheela start crying. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the matter?"

Sheela had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. "Sorry… It just hit me all at once."

"The sewer?"

Sheela kneed him in the side and said, "No you moron. I thought you were gonna die. I thought they were going to shoot you dead…"

Ranma wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. "Hey… I'm fine. You're fine too. We're both gonna be ok. I'm sorry I scared you, but I had to get you guys out of there."

She covered her eyes and squeezed out a few more tears. "I know… But sometimes you do these things with out thinking. I'd hate it if you died to get me out of trouble. I'd never fucking forgive you."

Ranma pulled her close and soothed her. "Hey… Don't think like that. Every things gonna be fine. I'm not going anywhere you got that? Cheer up ok?"

She held onto Ranma's arm and let her tears hit the pillow. "I can't…"

"Sure you can." Ranma picked up the remote and cruised back a few channels to one that caught his eye earlier. "Hey, look at that. It's porn!"

"Porn…?" Sheela moved her head up and took a look at the screen.

Ranma handed her his Fanta drink and turned up the volume. "You love Fanta, and look at that! It's your favorite porno. Debbie Does Everyone: Boinkfest on 18 Wheels. You love that one."

"I do love that one…"

"See every things gonna be ok. It's already looking up."

"Yeah… Yeah! It is." She gave him a peck on the cheek and snuggled up with him as they laughed at the double penetration scene with the fake titties bouncing.

"Go Debbie!"

Hikori was tired and starting to get annoyed with Ryouga. "Man, will you sit down? Burning a patch in the floor with your constant pacing is neither helping, nor is it allowing me to get any shut-eye."

Ryouga turned and snapped at him. "This fucking calm act of yours is starting to piss me off! They are in trouble and they aren't here!"

"Fuck this…" Hikori started rummaging around for the chloroform Jerry used, but it wasn't anywhere close. A new strategy came to mind. "Look Hibiki. We got the call that no bodies were found and a manhole was found open under the debris. I'm confident that they escaped through the sewers, found a place to lay low for tonight, and are more then likely celebrating their victory with hot sweaty sex… Unless of course, wondering through raw sewage shut down their sex drives for the next year or so, in which case they're asleep and safe. Shit like this happens all the time. They'll probably show up in a day or two, ok?"

Ryouga shook his head and walked out of the cargo bay. Ryouga heard Hikori's voice yell out from within, and it was actually useful advice. "Look for a place with a pool! And don't get lost!" Jerry leaned back in her chair to look out the office window to see Ryouga leaving and decided to give someone a quick call to make him work off his debt.

It took till the end of a long day for Ranma and Sheela to meet up with Hikori again, but in that time Hikori kept himself busy. He'd dropped off the money Boris needed to keep his life, and got to keep a large cut of it for himself. He worked with Zero to dot some 'i's and cross some 't's with matters of keeping them out of jail. It's amazing what a few dirty cops will overlook with such a simple motivation like money. The sun was setting on the docks leaving a red horizon over the water and two ill light figures walking towards a darkened cargo bay with back packs strapped to their shoulders. Hikori stood at the doorway and waited for the two to come close. "So did you have fun kids?" Ranma gave Hikori the finger and Sheela just out right ignored him. "A rough day I take it." The two sat down and Hikori joined them. "Well, as mad as you guys are, I'd like to update you."

"Not now."

"Long day."

"Shuddup. Now here's a detailed pick-sheet of what I've done. As you can see the areas written in red are-."

Both Ranma and Sheela double teamed Hikori. "SHUT UP!"

"…" Hikori dug up an angry expression on his face and reached into his pocket for his smokes. "We got to keep 68K of the money we stole."

Ranma fell out of his seat and Sheela had Hikori by the collar. "Holy crap! Where is it?"

"Oh, no you two have had a long day. I can see that. I won't bother you now."

Ranma got off the ground and was back at the table in Hikori's face. "No, you'll tell us now. Where's the money."

"Ahh, yes. If you'd refer to the pick-sheet please."

The two sighed and picked up their sheets of paper. Ranma rubbed his head as he looked at all the illegible graphs and charts scattered all across the pages. "You have too much time on your hands…"

About twenty minutes later Ranma's brain hurt. "I don't get the purple print… It says something about the Jerry-factor dividend. What's that?"

"Well, you used people to help you with this job and I'm telling you now that it wasn't out of the kindness of their hearts. We have to pay these people, ya know?"

Sheela was getting pissed as she started seeing a rapid decline in their cuts. "What next? Dental?"

"Close, workers compensation. Dental is still being discussed. Ned tripped and fell on some pretty sharp metal pieces in a back alley. He needed a tetanus shot and a band-aid large enough to cover his hand."

"Fuck Ned!"

"And now there's the cost of Jerry's explosives. That stuff put the largest dent in our budget."

"We had a budget? And I told Jerry I wasn't going to pay him back!"

"Hmm… He failed to bring this up in our meeting. I'll ask him about it in our next conference."

"Conference?"

"Now if you'll turn your attention to the back of the page…"

Ranma flipped the sheet around quickly and yelled. "Back?" The back read 'You have just been Hikori-ed'

Moments later Hikori was running out of the cargo bay being chased by Ranma with shotgun. Hikori giggled to himself as Ranma let a shot go off into the air and yelled at him. "Don't pull my chain like that ever again! That's a half hour of my life I'll never get back! How fucking much do we get to keep?"

"Fifty-four and a half thousand."

"I like it."

"Hey."

Ranma looked beside him to see Ryouga standing there. "Oh, hey. Where've you been?"

Ranma was answered with a solid punch to the gut and a disarming of his shotgun. "Looking for you."

Ranma leaned over and held his stomach with a smile. "Ya know… You may not know this, but that hurts…"

"Oh, I know. Is Sheela here?"

"Yeah she's in-."

(BIFF)

Ranma took another hit in the stomach and Ryouga walked away. "That one was for her, but I don't hit women."

Ranma put his hands on his knees, tried to catch his breath and waved Ryouga by. "Yeah, glad to see ya too… Fucker…"

Hikori patted Ranma's back. "He was worried."

"What a dick… ow!"

Hikori sent someone out for booze, and a lot of it. It was time for a party; a party with drugs, alcohol, and all those sexual stimulants needed after pulling a life threatening job, but a few people didn't make it. Ranma, Ryouga, and Sheela were in Jerry's office having a chat, and already making a new plan. It was mostly Ranma's plan though. "Look, Jerry. I've already managed to cause a hell of a stir here. I'm going to wait a few days for things to cool down a little and them I'm getting Akane. I know where she is, I have some guys that owe me big, and I've got the financing to pull it off. We need to get out of here before things get out of hand."

Jerry lit a cigar, let the smoke cascade through the air and said, "Cool. What's the plan?"

"Nothing fancy. Sheela and I talked this through last night, and I've just filled Ryouga in. It'll be quick, a few of Jasper's guys are going to die and I'm leaving this city for good."

Jerry passed him a wise look and asked. "Do you think it's really going to be that easy? Just find your girlfriend and go?"

Ranma jived in his seat a little and said. "I've got a plan or two happening here Jerry. I'm just going to go solo to that mansion, get her out, and take her to a safe place. Once she's there she's on her own."

Ryouga turned his head and said, "What? You didn't tell me this. I thought you still wanted to be with her."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "It's an old crush I've been holding onto for too long. I'm committed to other things now."

"To what?" As Ryouga asked he started to notice how close Ranma and Sheela were sitting next to each other. Then he noticed that they were holding hands. The he noticed their shoulders touching. Then he noticed the cozy look they both had and then the bombshell hit him when he noticed something that wasn't on Sheela's finger the day before. It was slim, golden, and held up three little blue diamonds. It was a hell of an engagement ring, and it also explained the break-in at the local jewelers earlier that morning. "…What… the… hell…?"

Ranma kept hold of her hand and told Ryouga what he learned. "Yesterday I found something out Ryouga. I found out that Sheela was telling me something and I wasn't listening. I found out that she was telling me she loved me, while I kept telling her I loved someone else. I've been an asshole to her and I had no reason to. Last night I decided that I love her and that I'll put the past behind me to be with her. So I proposed to her, and I loved the answer." Ranma stopped to think about it for a second and smiled. "I've been throwing this around in my head for four months now, not sure if she was the one I wanted, but after last night, when she stuck her neck out for me and cried afterwards… How could I not know?"

"Oh, that's just fucking sweet. You two have my blessings and all, but please get the fuck out of my office if you're gonna start making out. I don't need this romance bullshit."

Ryouga interrupted Jerry and cut right in. "You're getting married? Why so suddenly?"

Ranma passed a look at Ryouga. "What's wrong? Why would you care who I decide to marry? At least I'm still helping out Akane."

Ryouga tried to say something, but after a little while of not knowing what to say, he got up, kicked a chair over and walked out with a pissed look on his face. The door slammed behind him leaving the three in the office. Sheela watched him storm out through the office window and said, "Well, that was abrupt…"

Ranma looked at Sheela and then at Jerry with a smile. "So you know anything I want to know?"

Jerry shrugged. "Not yet. My guy is still working on it."

"Fine, but now I'm curious. I'm kinda making a move in the dark if I don't know where I stand."

"The guy is an artist with this crap. Never trust a pizza boy, ok?"

"Sure."

"Now before you run off on your little piss-wit blaze of glory, Mr. Saotome, are you sure this little snatch and grab of yours is gonna work? This is Jasper we're talking about. I've met the guy you know? He's very unpleasant and if you ask me, he's thinning a little at the top."

"I'm confident of how it's going to turn out so just trust me on this ok? I've got it all planned out and just in case this shit doesn't work out, Sheela, you're leaving town before this happens."

Sheela turned her head slowly and gave him an evil eye. "Pardon me?"

Ranma turned her to look at him and he laid it down. "Don't fight me on this one babe. You are not to fucking fight me on this. You're leaving town and I'll meet you later. No if's and's or but's. You being there could blow the whole thing, you got that?"

Sheela wasn't too happy with this, but she accepted in her own way. "Fucker…"

Three in the morning rolled around and Ranma was having a word with Hikori. "So you'll do this for me?"

"Hell, why not? It keeps me away from the danger."

"Man, don't joke around. I don't want Sheela there. I know she'll follow me and she'll be in danger."

Hikori nodded. "Ok, she'll be out of there. Don't worry about us, ok. You watch your own ass out there. I don't doubt you abilities to get in, but as soon as you have her, you'll be handicapped. Take a few guns and a fuck load of ammo with you."

"You don't need to tell me that man… Thanks…"

Ranma started walking away but Hikori grabbed his arms. "Hey."

"What?"

"Thanks for proposing to her. I don't think you know how happy you made her."

"She makes me pretty happy too…"

"Come back alive, you hear me you dumb fucker? I'll find some way to make your afterlife hell, if you fuck this up."

"I will, and don't fuck up your end either."

"You don't have to tell me shit you dumb kid."

"Good."

Two days went by with various ways of laying down and relaxing. A couple of cops came through the area, but every one had the hiding routine down and the cops didn't see shit when they passed by. It was the night before Ranma was going for his break-in, but he was going to need supplies, so he was spending the night at Jerry's place. 'Break in early in the morning, grab Akane, meet up in the next town and part ways. Nothing fancy.' Before he left Sheela gave him a peck on the cheek and told him that his present was in the garage. He kissed her back and told her he'd meet her in it when he's done.

Things were gonna go smoothly. All he had to do was grab Akane and run for it. An easy plan, with very little that could go wrong. Jerry was backing him up with weapons and other crap that could be helpful, but for some reason he had a bad feeling. 'Nah, it couldn't be anything. Just the shakes before the big push. It'll all be over in a few hours. Just an every day job.'

Ranma pushed the pedal harder and the car started going faster. It took fifteen long minutes to get down to the docks, and when he got there something was wrong. Usually some voices came out through the sheet metal walls of a bunch of guys playing poker, but Ranma was just getting paranoid. 'Nothing's going to go wrong, not a fucking thing.' And then he walked in and now he was staring to feel like he was kicked hard in the nuts. Every one was dead. It was a draw between two sides and every one was slaughtered.

Ranma looked in on the scene for a moment in disbelief, but it sunk in as truth quickly and immediately after the thought, he pulled out his gun and started walking in slowly to find that cold thunder cunt of a woman. After a while he saw a chick leaning against a wall covered in blood and holding an assault rifle. Ranma ran over to her and checked her out. She was sort of alive and seemed to be praying. "Jerry! What the fuck happened?"

Jerry opened her eyes and started lifting the rifle up towards Ranma. "Where's that fucking cheese grater…?"

He pushed the gun out of his face and asked again. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"I guess you were born yesterday. These are called gunshot wounds. They hurt a lot." Jerry coughed a few times and Ranma picked her up and started heading for the medical room Drew was dragged to before he was killed. He laid her down, took off her coat and put on a couple of laytex gloves. "Oh, you fucking pervert…"

"I'm patching you up, ya dumb bitch, not molesting you."

"Thanks but no thanks Dr. Saotome. You'll kill me before anything."

"Hey, I can deliver a fucking baby if the situation occurs. I took courses."

"I'm not pregnant and I can wait. Go to my desk. I left some papers on top of it."

Ranma started applying bandages and ignored her. "Shut up, I'm not here to look at your stamp collection."

Ranma wasn't expecting a knee to the side of the head as well as a shit load of fight left in the bullet torn body of Jerry. "Go grab the fucking papers. You're buddy Ryouga stabbed you in the fucking back."

"Ryouga…" Ranma let himself out quickly and came back almost as fast with a stack of papers and a folder.

Jerry had managed to prop her back against the wall behind the bed and was now lighting a cigar. "You're not saving your girl today. After that bandana wearing fruit stormed out of here he went straight the Timmy. I wasn't told until about an hour ago, but after my guy came back, Jasper's boys came in here and fucked everything up. You're buddies are in deep shit Ranma. Have they already left?"

"No…"

Jerry got to her feet held onto Ranma. "Then get me into a car and get your ass back to them. Hide and I'll give you a call."

Ranma got her into the driver's seat of one of her cars and she started it up. "I'll get myself to the hospital, don't worry about me. Jerico got out of here in time as well, so expect a visit from him. Now get the fuck out of my face."

Ranma nodded and told Jerry to take care. He got back into the shit heap he drove to the docks in and started bolting back to the dojo through the dark streets. We wasn't being inconspicuous anymore, he was going in for another rescue and he was going to kill any one that may have hurt Sheela by now. 'Maybe they haven't made their move yet… No… They knew I was going to Jerry…' Ranma skimmed a few lines of a paper he had taken out of the folder. 'Why did he sell me out?' Ranma thought about it for a few more seconds and then he had it. 'Ukyo… Where the fuck were you all this time? Do they have you too? Is Ryouga turning on me for you?'

He came blasting down the alley and hopped out of the car before it was done moving. It knocked over a couple of trashcans and Ranma burst through the front gate to see shit cleared out in a hurry. "Hey! Sheela! Where the fuck are ya?"

He ran into the burnt out house and saw his first omen. Zero's computer equipment was shot to shit and he wasn't anywhere to be seen. 'No blood…' And then he heard it. A gunshot and a woman screaming. He ran out of the house to the front yard to see Hikori on the ground laying in a pool of blood. Next he saw a man holding Sheela and Ryouga standing beside him with a look like a dog has when it's done something bad. The man with Sheela left with her and Ryouga stood with his shaking gun in hand pointing at Ranma. A solid minute passed and Ranma took a step forward.

"S-Stop!"

"Get the fuck out of my way Ryouga! Get the fuck out of my way!"

Ryouga's hand started shaking violently as he held it out at Ranma. "Stop!"

Ranma took another step. "You're gonna shoot me? You sonovbitch! You fucking killed Hikori!"

"I-it wasn't me! Stop! Fucking stop!"

"Why? Need a still target? If you're gonna shoot me then fucking shoot me!" Ranma started yelling at Ryouga with spit flying out of his mouth.

Ryouga let a shot go off straight up into the air and held the gun steady ahead of him. "You don't know anything! You don't fucking know what they did to her! They put Ukyo in a fucking coma!"

"So you'll fuck me over, leave Akane to die and god knows what to Sheela? WHAT THE FUCKS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Ryouga's hand started shaking again and he cocked the gun. "All I have to do is kill you and every one will be ok…" Ryouga started crying and soon his hard breathing took over the motion of his hand cannon. "Every thing'll be ok…"

"You piece of shit motherfucker! You think you can kill me? You don't have the fucking balls!"

"Shut up!" Ryouga was getting ready for it when out of nowhere three quick shots were heard behind him and he turned to see what was coming. It was Sheela rushing through the gate with a gun in hand heading straight for Ryouga. Before he knew what he was doing he lifted his piece and let a round go off. All the sound in the world stopped for a moment except for the sound of a bullet flying, shortly followed with the sound of Sheela hitting the ground with a hole in her head.

It took Ryouga a moment to figure out what he's done and it lead him to screaming. A second scream came from behind him and it was Ranma charging at him with full force. Ryouga's heart jumped in fear and he let out another short blood chilling scream and pointed his piece at Ranma. Ryouga pulled the trigger till nothing more would come out of the end of his gun and pulled the trigger thirteen more times before he could figure out he was out of ammo.

Ranma was face down in the mud with holes coming out of his back and motionless as the rain came in and started washing the scene away. Ryouga's hand shook again and this time it forced him to drop it and all he could do then was run out the gate, past the man Sheela left dead, and back to a place he was promised salvation. The sound of police sirens filled Ranma's dying ear as well as the ring of a small bell before he gave in and decided to die with Sheela. No last words, no teary good-byes and no fucking 'I love you's'. Just a couple of kids that died in love. It was at this moment that Ranma envied death. No matter how often it occurs, and no matter how many people around you it strikes, it always and will forever be able to sneak up on you with out you ever knowing and strike you in the heart before you even know what the fuck to do. Sneaky fucking death. You sneaky fucking bastard. Ranma let his eyes close and released blood from his mouth. He wasn't going to need it anymore anyways.

-

-

(Puff Daddy - Victory: It took me three full rewrites to get this chapter the way I wanted it. Sorry it took so long and chances are you don't like how this chapter ended. Get used to it, its not always going to be a victory. Some times there'll be defeat and some times it's a horrible fucking defeat. By the way. This isn't the end.)


	13. Woke Up This Morning

Woke Up This Morning

Everything was dark, but occasionally he'd see light, but it would go away before he knew what the fuck was going. Every time he saw the light, his body hurt all over and a strange thumping sound was heard. The sound was muffled and muddy, but it hurt his head. After the light went away every thing was dark again and the moments later the light would come back and bring back all that pain, but sometimes the thumping would be there and some times it wouldn't. His eyes hurt so he closed them till the pain went away and waited till the light came back. He wasn't thinking about Sheela, and he wasn't thinking about how Ryouga shot him. He was thinking only about how much that fucking light pissed him off.

It happened six more times before he was finally able to reach out and grab it. When he grabbed it the pain was horrendous and he had to let out a small shout, but it wasn't enough to stop him. He had a grip on it and he could feel it in his hand trying to get away, but he was going to kill it. He reached with his other arm for his gun, but it wasn't at his side. He started searching for it, and that in itself caused him pain, but he was going to shoot the fuck out of that god damn light one way or another. The thing in his hand whacked his hand away and that was it. He leaned up to kill it first hand, but when he did, the world around him came into clear focus and all he saw was a girl with purple hair staring at him with fright in her eyes and that's when the pain came at him with a vengeance and made him black out again.

The light came back again later and that's when he realized something. He wasn't dead and that light along with the pain proved it. 'Awe fuck…' That weird thumping was heard again and something like the sound of gas leaking into something else entered his ears. The light became clearer and it eventually turned into a picture. He tilted his head to the side to see the armrest of a black leather couch just to his left and on the ceiling was a fan turning slowly. It wasn't a hospital that was for sure, but half the equipment was there. He had tubes going into him and things monitoring his beats. It was nothing more then a dusty old room with enough shit moved to the side to make way for the shit needed to keep him alive. His neck was stiff when he started turning it but he got his head pointing at the doorway. It was closed and no was in there with him. He tried getting up but two things were stopping him. The horrid pain and the things around his hands and feet. 'Tied down…' And then a new thought entered his head. 'Sheela…' Then his eyes went wide and he shouted out loud. "SHEELA!"

He started shaking himself and pulled at the straps to get loose. "SHEELA!" As he struggled the door opened and it was Shampoo running in to see what was happening. He had one hand free and was pulling shit out of himself that he shouldn't have been pulling. A monitor started beeping and soon a man followed behind Shampoo and he came in to hold Ranma down. He was familiar and to top it off he jammed a needle right into Ranma's shoulder and started pumping a sleepy fluid in. "G…GET OFF! SHEELA! WHERE'S SHEELA?" Moments later he started calming down and his arms started to slow down as well as his legs. He started to cry as he fought the drug and grabbed onto the man that stuck him with it. "W…where's… Sheela…? Where…?" His voice just barely broke his breath and his question when unanswered as he once again slipped back into darkness. 'Fuckers… tell me… tell me…' And then it all came back to that fucking light.

He eventually woke up again, but this time he was somewhere else again. A new place, sort of the same with all the equipment there with him and another black leather couch. Maybe the same one, but the room was different. He didn't bother freaking out this time, he knew what would happen with the bits and pieces he remembered from the last time he woke up. Then he noticed a shadow over himself, and he looked up to see a chicks stomached over his head. She was wearing a blue shirt and he eventually said, "Hey."

Shampoo shot back and stepped away from Ranma and looked at his eyes. She came close again and called a name. "Dr. Tofu! He's awake!"

"He tried to reach out and touch her but his hands were tied again. "Shampoo… What happened to her…? What happened to Sheela…?"

Shampoo held his hand and held his head close to her. "She died Ranma… I'm sorry…"

Ranma let out a breath and let the tears hit him hard. "Oh fuck…" His nose started to run and his chest started bumping up and down. "Oh god…" It didn't take much of the truth he knew to make him lean over the side of the couch and throw up. His face went bright red and he started screaming his cries. "Sheela!"

Shampoo wiped his mouth and held him again. "I'm sorry Ranma… I couldn't help her… I'm sorry…"

Ranma couldn't say anything anymore. He just buried his head in Shampoo's shoulder and let it all out. She untied one of his hands and it immediately went around her neck and held her tight as he cried and thought of suicide. It was all his fault again, and this time he couldn't save any one. There was no one to save anymore. He was alone and crying on some chick he'd always gave the cold shoulder too.

Tofu came in and saw the scene and decided to stay back until Ranma was done. He cried for almost fifteen minutes before he finally fell asleep again. After that, every time he woke up he just looked around to see if there was anything sharp to cut himself with. If there was some one in the room with him then he wouldn't talk and just stare at the ceiling until he went back to sleep. He'd been out for almost a month before the first time he woke up, and now it was coming close to the end of the second month. His wounds were deep and every time his bandages were changed he started to think of only two things. How he was going to die, and how he was going to kill Ryouga.

Each day that passed by may have been two or three for all he cared, but every time he woke up again he started to see exactly what he had to do. Get off this fucking couch, get out that door, and start killing people that needed to be killed. Ever night he grinded his teeth waiting for his holes to close up. Every night he waited alone in the dark for someone to come along and knife him in his sleep. Every night he waited patently for his turn at the death-dealing table.

Two months finally came and Ranma was up and walking around now. His body was weak but that didn't matter. All he needed was the strength to hold up a gun. He finally figured out what that goddamn thumping sound was. He was in a secluded part of the Kitten Club that Shampoo's grandmother owned. The music was shitty and it didn't help his mood any, however it explained the visits he was getting from the Amazons. He'd only seen Mousse a couple times, but he never stopped by to check up on Ranma, more to bitch about why Ranma was there then anything else. It took a few days but Ranma started talking to people again. He finally thanked Shampoo for giving him a shoulder to cry on and started asking about people. Every one minus a few people thought he was dead. The body of a man shot three times was mistakenly identified as the Kyoto Hurricane and since nothing was going on in the criminal world at the moment every one accepted it. Boy, were they in for a fucking surprise.

Shampoo was there every morning he woke up to help him off the couch. He took the help when he needed it and tried his best not to give her the cold shoulder. He had a cane to help him move around and with each passing day he needed less and less bandaging. His awareness was starting to come back to him and he started noticing things he should have been before. Shampoo had a habit of wearing those sexy belly shirts, but it wasn't the sexy part Ranma was concerned with. One morning he saw her sitting beside him and he lifted her shirt a little to see a large but feint scar. He asked about it but it took her three days to come to him at eleven at night and tell him.

After he heard the story, things started making sense. Jasper had every one in his hand in some way. For Ryouga, he had Ukyo and for Shampoo he had her address, something to knock her out, and a doctor that new how to abort a baby at six months. Her and Mousse were gonna have a kid together, but to make sure they sold Ranma out if they ever needed to, he took their baby right out of her and killed it before she knew what that stinging feeling on her abdomen was. No wonder she seemed so weak back then… No wonder Mousse wanted him out of there… What else had Jasper done to the people he knew? What the hell was next?

Ranma returned the favor and gave Shampoo a shoulder to cry on. It was the least he could do; by all rights it was his fault her baby was taken away. She could have turned him over to Jasper and gone on living with out fear. What was it that made her stop and show kindness to some one that didn't deserve it? Who knows? It was some seriously fucked up logic, but he was alive now because of her and he was sure as hell going to make it up to both her and Mousse.

The sponge baths were getting embarrassing so, Ranma attempting a shower by himself with the doctor just outside the door in case he heard a body drop. It was oddly harder then it should have been, but as he got the grease out of his hair he started feeling a little better. Amazing what being clean can do for ya. Can't bring back the dead though and it sure can't wash away your sins no matter how hard you scrub. At least he was feeling a little refreshed. He got out and wrapped a towel around himself and walked over to the mirror. He wiped away the steam and stared at his face for a few seconds. After a while he said, "Why not?" turned on the tap and splashed himself with some cold water.

Ranma's female form showed all the truths. Her arms were thin, and veiny showing how close the meat was to the bone. She tightened her fist a couple of times and eventually pulled back and hit the mirror with all her force. A spider web crack formed in the center and there was a knock on the door. "I'm fine. Don't worry." She stared at her face in the mirror and spoke to herself quietly. "Haven't seen you for a while…" She pulled her fist away let the blood cover her hand. "Glad to see you still got some of it left…" She turned on the hot water and went back to his male form. He kept looking at the blood on his hand and smiled. "Yeah… I've still got something left…"

Ranma walked out with a pair of jeans on and showed the doctor his hand. "Cut myself shaving. Got a Band-Aid?"

Tofu leaned over to see the broken mirror and then back at Ranma. "I hear that's bad luck."

"Seriously doc. Can my luck get any worse?" Tofu stayed quiet and waved Ranma to follow him. "I was told you were a bum on the street. What gives?"

"Would you rather see me on the street?"

"No, I'm just wondering."

Tofu shrugged his shoulders. "I was for a little while, but Cologne took me on as a money-under-the-table family doctor. I'd ask what you've been up to, but I watch the news."

"You don't sound too pleased."

"I don't think any one is. No one expected this from you Ranma. Some people were glad to know you were buried."

"Were you?"

"Never. I'm disappointed with you, but I'd be sorry to see you go. That's why I did every thing I could to keep you alive. I had to call an old friend of mine to perform surgery on you in secret. It was quite a fee he charged, but he was risking a lot to help me."

"Tell him I said thanks."

Maybe it was grace; maybe it was the devil leering its evil eye, but either way it happened one night. Ranma had developed a habit walking right out of the back and going behind the bar for something to drink. It pissed off Cologne and maybe he should have been a little more conscious of what he was doing, but depression made him not really care what anyone thought. It was usually a thick, dark, tall bottle of something hard and he would usually take it down in one go, but tonight it was going to be used for something else.

"Hey, Vimmy… Who the fucks that?"

Vimmy turned his head and asked. "Where?"

"Behind the fucking bar. I thought that guy was dead."

"Who's that?"

The other man leaned over to get a better look. "That's Ranma Saotome. The Kyoto Fucking Hurricane."

Vimmy gave him a dumb look and asked. "Why would he be here if he's dead? Are you sure it's him?"

"I'm fucking sure its him! Watch this. RANMA!" The guy held a menu to this face and peeked out the side. He kicked Vimmy and said. "See! He's looking around now!"

"Maybe he's just wondering what all the racket is. Maybe he works here."

The guy looked at Vimmy and said. "He's wearing a pair of torn jeans and a house coat. I don't think he works here and I'm pretty sure he don't live here either."

"W-well what are we gonna do?"

"I'll tell ya what we're gonna do." The guy pulled out a phone and started hitting numbers. "Eh! Kyle. Guess who I just found… No, the fucking hurricane himself… Yes he's fucking alive… Fuck that, just get some of the boys over here at the Kitten Club and we'll bag this asshole. Man Timmy's gonna make us fucking rich for this shit!"

Ranma took a drink from the bottle and heard his name called. Judging from the direction it came from the table with two guys. One sort of looking at him dumbly and another hiding behind an upside-down menu. 'Some one knows me…' He started looking around while keeping one eye on them. It didn't take long for the guy in menu-camo to open up his cell phone and start talking with a nervous glace in his direction every so often. He stared at the guy's mouth and tried his best to listen in from afar. Nothing he could make out, but after the quick conversation ended Ranma got this bad feeling in his gut and this time he was going to listen to it.

Mousse came over to give Ranma shit as always, but Ranma pegged him with a question before he could say anything. "What do you have for home defense around here?"

"Huh?"

"You got any guns around here?"

"No. Why do you want guns Saotome?"

"To shoot them at people who'll be coming by soon."

"What?"

Ranma smiled and smacked Mousse's shoulder. "Call me crazy, but I got a feeling some people are coming over here to stir up some shit."

"You are crazy. Now get in the back before I kick you out of here myself."

"Suit yourself."

Ranma walked back to Cologne's office and walked in without knocking. "What is it Ranma?"

"Can I borrow that shot gun you got under your desk?"

Cologne's eyes went wide and she asked quickly. "Trouble?"

"In a little bit." Through all the commotion happening out in the club gunfire was heard and Cologne rubbed her head in annoyance.

"What did you do…?"

"Stayed alive. Hand it over, I'll take care of em'."

Ranma walked back out into the club and people were being let out one at a time as the guys with guns checked all their faces. He grabbed the bottle he left on the counter and opened it. After taking a sip he kneeled down behind the counter beside Mousse. "So are ya sure we don't have anything else?" He held the shotgun in front of Mousse and Mousse shook his head.

"Nothing. All we got is a baseball bat back here."

"Fine." Ranma took the bat and handed Mousse the gun. He took off his housecoat and wrapped it around the end of the bat. "You take this, I'll go grab my own."

"Huh?"

Ranma stood up with his bottle in one hand and bat in the other. "Hey fuckers!" A bunch turned around to see Ranma tossing a bottle into the air and swinging at it hard. A 'tink' sound was heard and an unbroken bottle was flying towards the face of one of the guys. It smashed against his face and cut him to shit. That's when he picked up another bottle from under the counter and took another shot as they tried at him as well.

After three bottles of Vodka most of the counter was shot to hell and back and Ranma left Mousse on his own as he ran towards the closest guy. A shot came at him as he ran, but he didn't flinch. He grabbed the gun in his hand and pushed it down against the guy's leg and took them out. He held his meat shield close and started emptying rounds into non-vital parts of their bodies. Some took a few more shots then others, but by the time he got to his fifth Beretta they were all down moaning. Twelve guys overall, each one of them dipshits. Ranma told Mousse to call the police and he sat all the men in a circle with their backs to each other. Mousse was off the phone and holding his shotgun at them warning none of them to move.

Ranma finished disarming them and went over to one of them. "So, uh whatcha guys doing here?"

"Fuck you man!"

Ranma pressed the gun against the asshole's head and asked something else. "Do you want to die? Just tell me why you're here."

"Fuck you! You ain't shootin' any of us!"

"Are ya sure?" To Mousse's horror Ranma stood up and pumped a bullet between the guys eyes and moved over to the next one. "How about you? You got anything for me?"

The next guy screamed and Ranma planted a bullet in him brain as well. "That's not an answer." He moved over again and asked. "Want to tell me anything?"

The guy shook and tried to get up and run, but Ranma took care of that. "If any of ya run, I'll fucking shoot ya. Now." Ranma moved over to the next guy and pressed the hot gun against his forehead. "Who ya working for?"

The man shivered and pleaded. "P-please man… Don't shoot me… Please god do-."

A round went through his head and Ranma made a statement. "Never heard of him. By the way, I'm the one asking questions and you're the ones answering them. Please try and keep up here." He moved over again and continued the routine. "Why are you here?"

"I-I don't know! Kyle just said-."

The flash and the bang went off again and Ranma took another step over. "If you don't know why you're fucking well here, then you don't really need to live, now do ya?" Once again he pressed the gun against some guy's head and asked. "So who's Kyle?"

The man had blood of his buddies all over him and he pointed a shaky finger at the man rattling his teeth. "Th-That's Kyle over there!"

"Oh, really? I guess I can work down the line faster then." Ranma went around the circle and capped the four men before Kyle. "Hi, Kyle. My name's Ranma." Two guys got up and tried to make a break for it, but Ranma plugged them both in the back. He slid the piece across Kyle's face and spoke with a tone that could only be explained as low and sadistic. "It looks like you're the only one left my man." Kyle couldn't find the state of mind to control his breathing and Ranma fed off of that. "I guess you're like every other guy out there. You have a couple answers for things that people wouldn't mind hearing, and with that you also don't want to die. I can tell you know? All your dipshit buddies are dead and now you're shaking." Ranma pulled a bit of meat out of Kyle's hair and threw it on the ground with a slap. "So tell me something. Why ya looking for me?"

Kyle swallowed a lump in his throat and his voice came out low and scared. "I was… I was told y-you were here… T-Timmy kn-knew you weren't dead… H-he has a bounty on your head…"

"Is that so?"

"Th-that's all I know. I'm beggin' you man… Don't kill me… I got a wife and kid…"

"I was planning that myself you know?" Ranma pushed the gun up Kyle's nose and pulled the trigger to hear the sound of gun clipping back and missing the fire. Ranma looked at his gun and the bullet had gotten lodged in the slide back. After a few seconds he started smiling and then he broke out into snickering. He leaned his head against Kyle and smacked his arm as he started breaking out into full-blown laughing. "Awe man. You're one lucky son of bitch." Ranma busted out a few more laughs and started getting teary eyed. He kept his smile and wiped the tear from his eye. "You know what man, I'll kill ya some other time. How's that?"

Kyle nodded frantically and didn't seem to find the joke all that funny. Ranma got Kyle to his feet and showed him the door. "Go tell who ever you have to that I'm back in the game. Oh, and if you see Timmy, tell him I'm coming over to his place in like an hour, can ya do that for me?" Kyle nodded and walked away with his front facing Ranma till he was able to turn around a corner and start running for dear life. In truth Ranma knew exactly who was behind his bounty and those guys. Jasper was in the middle of it all and now every last glory seeking punk was going to get on his case. The only reason he asked questions was because he just wanted to shoot someone. Pretty simple.

Ranma went behind the bar again and pulled himself out another bottle as Mousse stared at the eleven men that were now executed and organized into a neat circle and couldn't help but smile a little. He knew were these men came from, and for once he was happy with what Ranma had done. It was out of the blue and horrifying at first, but once it sunk in who they were, he just sort of smiled a little. Then it hit him that Ranma was about to split any second now and he was probably going to have to explain things to the police.

Ranma started walking out with his bottle of whisky and a sports jacket someone left behind when they ran out. He turned back for a second and walked back to Mousse and shook his hand. "Thanks for the hospitality. Couldn't have made it without you guys. It really means a lot."

Mousse held Ranma's hand tight and asked. "Where're you going Saotome?"

"Just gonna go collect a few things and say 'hi' to Timmy Garino. I wanna ask him about that gold tooth of his."

Mousse held the shotgun in front of him and said. "I'm going with you then."

Ranma shook his head and gave him his final answer. "No. You wanna shoot some of these guys, that's great, but right now I'm going to need you to clean up my mess and tell the police what happened. Just say I walked in and started fucking around, a fight broke out and the Kyoto Hurricane ruined every one's shit. After this mess is cleared up, feel free to come along anytime and kill these fucks. Besides, I don't want Shampoo seeing this."

Mousse hated the low blow with Shampoo, but he was right. "Sure you can make it on your own? You've been out for two months."

"Two months ain't enough to keep me out. I've still got something left and I'm gonna go prove it to a very important man. That and I've got a personal question for Timmy." Mousse held out the shotgun for Ranma but he waved it off. "Don't worry, I've got my own. See ya around. Not sure if I'll be back."

Ranma walked home to the old Tendo dojo, his legs weren't used to it yet, but with a few brakes he made it. 'Do not cross' tape was up everywhere. Must have been an ongoing investigation, but it was lucky that the building hadn't been torn down yet. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach was he looked in remembering what happened, but he had bigger fish to fry then think about things he couldn't change, just pay back. Ranma was about to find out if Hikori's theory was right. He made his way inside and went straight into the kitchen and opened up the oven. "Son of bitch was right." They never look in the oven for shit. Ranma pulled out a couple of black bags filled with ammo and things to shoot out that ammo.

9mm's were always good; they shot out little chunks of metal that made people fall down. A Desert Eagle didn't actually look like an eagle at all, but it could take off a man's head from fifty feet away and cause a big splatter. Perfect for what Ranma wanted to do. Then there was the trusty six-shooter magnum. Gun slinging, cowboy style fighting and an exciting reload time. In the other bag there was a sawed off shotgun, the kind that hold two rounds and make things die at close range. Could be useful. Beneath it was an SMG with a pen laser duck taped to it. It was Christmas all over again and today's color was red.

It was time to see if they left that present Sheela left him in the garage. It was a no-go and he needed wheels, but then he thought of something. It was a little bet he made and he was going to collect before he paid Timmy a visit.

Ranma found a phone both and decided to find an address. Detective Willis. Only two in the phone book, and one of them was in the slums of town, so Ranma guessed and started walking towards the better one. He got tired and ended up jacking some one's car while the guy was still driving it. When he got behind the steering wheel all he wanted to do was sleep. Already his body was stressing itself. Already he was tired from the little scrap and the big walk. He wasn't used to being this weak, and almost blacked out a couple of times. He had to shake his head and hit it on the steering wheel a couple times to keep himself awake. It didn't work too well and he rolled the window down for the airflow. The wind got in his eyes and made him want to close them. Nothing was going to fucking well work, and then the bonus prize.

Right in the passenger seat of the car was a small bottle with a funny little label that said, 'UPPERS'. This translates into amphetamines, which translate into speed. "Why the fuck not?" He opened the bottle and took half a pill. It didn't take too long after that.

Ranma pulled a 180 turn in the middle of the street and parallel parked between a fire hydrant and a telephone poll. The door swung open and he took a shot of his whisky with a grin on his face. "I'm fucking amazing!" He pulled the page from the phone book out of his pocket and counted the addresses with an anxious finger. "20-67. 20-67. I'm gonna fiiiiinnnd yoooou. A-ha!" He pulled out his desert eagle and jogged to the front door where he rang the doorbell and started to pretend that he was Rocky with the warm-up punches.

A woman answered the door with a nightgown on and Ranma had the gun away in an instant. "Hey, hey, hey! Is detective Walter Willis here pretty lady? I got a lead in a crime in a murder that some one that wasn't me committed and I'm gonna give em' a lead and information and all sorts of things to help save the day, can I come in?"

Before the lady could answer Ranma stepped in and Ranma had his gun out again. She screamed and the Detective was off the couch ready to battle the invader. Ranma came around the corner wide-eyed, saw the detective and hit him with the butt of the gun with lightning speed and had him back on the couch with the piece to his head. "Hey! Guess what? You owe me $20! You remember that bet we made where I said that if you-."

"What the hell? What do you want?"

Ranma looked around with his eyes in wonder and looked back at the detective. "$20?" Ranma started pacing and waving the gun around trying to remember why he came. "Oh yeah! I need your help with something. C'mon! Let's go!" He grabbed the detective's arm and started dragging him to the front door. The wife tried pulling husband back and Ranma pointed the eagle at her. "Hey! I'll shoot your face off pretty lady! Gimme gimme!"

Willis got up with his hands up and pushed his wife back. "I'll go with you! Just leave her alone!"

"Right, don't shoot the pretty lady, got it buddy boy." Ranma leaned down and quickly tossed the detective a pair of high heels. "Get you're shoes on! We need to go go go right now. AHH! What's that buzzing sound?" Ranma turned to point the gun at the entrance way closet and shot at it. "Ha! Take that bee! Got your shoes on yet? Dude! Shoes now!"

Ranma lead the way to the car and jogged in place as the detective tried to talk some sense into Ranma. "You're fucking high kid. Let me drive, for both our safety."

"What? I'm a great driver! I drove all the way here by myself. And and and you don't know where we're going!"

"Where are we going then?"

"We're gonna go find the car Sheela gave me and-." Ranma stopped for a second and got a pissed look on his face. After a few moments he shot four times on random directions and looked around again. "I swear there's a fucking bee around here!"

"Stop shooting! You're gonna hit some one!"

"Naaaahhh… My aim's perfect, it's like one of those heat seeking missile things, you know they seek things and find them in one shot." Willis tried to disarm Ranma but the attempt failed and Ranma had the gun to his head again. "What're you doing?"

"Are you on meth boy? Put that thing away! I'll take you to the car! It's at the police impound. Just calm down."

Ranma shook his head and started pacing again. "You're right! Need to be calm. Like a ninja! And we'll ninja our way into the impound and hang off ceilings and scale walls and use smoke bombs and nets and booby traps and and… It'll be fucking great! And when have the car I can like go drive to Timmy's place and shoot his head off and then I can kill Ryouga, because Timmy'll tell me where he is and then I can go kill Jasper because he's a big angry douche-bag with a receding hair line and has like I don't know what the fuck any more, but lets go! I saw an awesome jump down the street!" Ranma threw Willis the keys and asked. "Can we go off it? It'll be fucking sweet!"

The detective was driving now and he was killing time with an annoying man beside him constantly talking. The crazy kid was on something that him crazier and he needed to let him burn off his energy before he killed someone. Ranma wanted to take risks and if he was the Kyoto Hurricane then the risks will be extreme. Ranma was already following the streetlight and not really paying attention to anything the detective was doing. The detective needed to do something fast but all he could do was drive if Ranma held all the guns. He needed a gun. He needed something to level the playing field and after a few moments of thought he came up with something, but it was going to be risky. "Hey… umm… Ya know, you're looking a little rough over there."

Ranma kept his eyes on the lights and shook his head. "Not rough at all. I'm smooth."

"Well, I'm feeling a little rough myself. I didn't take my medication today, and you know us old guys. We need a fucking pill for everything these days."

"Forgot your meds? Will you like die or something? Are we gonna crash?"

"No, but it's bad to miss it. I just need to go to the Pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions."

"Oh a Pharmacy? Yeah, yeah. We can go there." Ranma opened up his coat and showed the detective all the bloody bandaged across his chest. "My doctor sewed up the holes, but they still leak n' hurt sometimes. Yeah! This'll work out perfect! You get your things and I'll get myself some pain killers, I kinda left mine at the club after I shot all those guys."

Willis went kinda quiet and started to realize that he was in a bit more shit then he had predicted. He needed those downers and he needed to get them down this kid's throat. "You killed someone?"

"Oh, man you should have seen it! I got eleven of them! They were coming after me and I couldn't let them hurt anyone so I shot them all. They all like 'Where's Ranma?' and I was like, 'Hey fuckers!' and I killed all those pricks! Teach them for killing Sheela. Oooo… They're all gonna fucking die for what they did to my fiancé. Hell they killed Hikori too, those fuckers! Oh! And Ryouga! Oh, man you're so fucking lucky you're not him or I'd fucking pull your spine out your ass hole right now. He's the one that shot her right in the head, and then he shot me five times! Should have shot me in the head though. Would have worked much better."

"So her name was Sheela…"

"Yeah and he fucking killed her! FUCK!" Ranma started to beat the shit out of the glove box and let some bullets fly into the dashboard.

"Calm boy! Calm!"

Ranma started shaking and put his gun away. "I'm sorry man, I'm just mad. Probably making you a little scared or something right now. As soon as I have my painkillers I'll be fine. C'mon let hurry!"

The detective took his sweet time getting to the pharmacy. It had been about a solid hour of driving and Ranma was starting to come down from the drug. He was hyper but getting tired and hungry. The two walked into the store and Willis wrote an SOS to the clerk to call the police while Ranma read every last bit of the labels to find the words 'pain relief.' Ranma was walking around for ten minutes before he heard police sirens and he was just feeling groggy now. The downers weren't going to be needed anymore so the detective started to keep Ranma occupied. "Find everything you needed?"

Ranma's head dipped forward and his forehead hit the shelf bring him back to reality. "I hear sirens… Why do I hear sirens…?"

"I don't hear sirens."

Ranma was sleepy but he was smarter now. He pieced together his stupid logic and started heading out the door. Willis grabbed his arm and Ranma gave him a backhanded five across the eyes. Willis went down and Ranma got into the drivers seat of his car. 'I left the fucking guns in here… What the hell was I thinking?' He rubbed his eyes and started driving off. He didn't need Sheela's car; he needed Timmy's head and a message. He pulled into an alley and figured out the closest route to the old Kuno estate.

His trigger finger was itchy, but his eyes were sleepy. He was burnt out and he forgot where he left the bottle of pills. He didn't need to be awake long anyways. He just needed to walk in and kill a guy. This wasn't a rescue, it was a murder and one long overdue.

Ranma forgot out Timmy's posse of pin-dicks but they were easy to get by. A bit of sneaking here, a little bit of throat slicing there and he was in through a window. He had the bag of guns slung on his side like a dispenser and he didn't feel like being quiet any more. He was in and Timmy was close. Hopefully.

Ranma had learned something after a while and its that you can walk into a room full of guys and none of them will turn to see who it is because no one would be stupid enough to fight them all. Ranma had the SMG in hand and as soon as he saw one target he saw many more and proceeded to shoot them all. The shots coming back at him made him find that energy he needed to stay awake and he jumped behind a couch and landed on his stomach with much pain. He almost screamed but he grit his teeth and shot the next guy aiming at him. He got up quickly and started to run through the room taking burst shots at anyone trying to get in his way.

He managed to grab one guy and pointed the SMG at the guy's nuts. "Where's Timmy?"

"Up stairs at the end of the hallway! Fuck!"

"Thank you." Ranma did him a courtesy and did not shoot him in the beans but left a straight line of five bullets going straight from his belly to his nose. A closed casket funeral if you will.

It had been less then a minute but Timmy must have heard the gunshots by now and was more then likely trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Ranma ran up the stairs and at the top were two men with guns trying to see if Ranma was on their team or not. Since Ranma was on his own team he didn't need this time to think, so he had his two 9mm's ready, opened his arms into a 'V' shape and gave the two three rounds each. Only one shot missed and it was only because the guy was falling back.

Ranma got to the top just in time to see a man in a suit at the end of the hall slam the door. Ranma ran up to it and jumped with two feet forwards and guns at his sides facing into the room. He went right through the door and before he landed he had already shot three guys. Ranma got off his back with the hands gun pointed right at Timmy hiding behind his chair. You've made a big fucking mistake my friend!"

Ranma shot him in the arm and backed him against the wall. "Sorry, but I'm not your friend." He shot his other arms and got to his feet. "And in all honesty I don't really like you." Ranma got his leg this time and Timmy hit the floor on his side with agony written all over his face. "And I'm not happy with what I've seen around here. Hey are you listening to me?" Ranma took out his other leg and Timmy was on the floor unable to move and mumbling something. Ranma put a hand to his ear and kneeled down a bit "What's that boy? Timmy's stuck in the fucking well?"

"Jasper's gonna fucking kill you! HE'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure he will, but before we get to that how about you answer a couple questions for me?"

"Fuck you!"

"Ryouga where is he?"

"That little cunt ran away like the bitch he is! He ain't gonna help ya anyways!"

"No, I'm planning on killing him. And you're brother Jasper?"

"You won't find him, he'll find you and when he does-."

Ranma had the good old double barrel out and against Timmy's neck. "So tell me. How's life been, because it's about to end." Ranma pulled Timmy's hair and pulled both triggers on the shotgun. Timmy's head detached from his body and the mouth hung open to show that shiny gold tooth. "I'm guessing not all that well." Ranma looked back at where the door to the room was and saw a closet. "Hmmm…"

Five minutes passed and a few of Timmy's gang finally found enough balls to find out why it went so quiet. One man walked in and stepped slowly while looking around. Three others followed and they found a headless body laying on the floor occasionally twitching. The closet behind them opened up and there was Ranma in nice gray suit. It was Timmy's and fit pretty well, except the legs were a bit long. In one hand Ranma held the SMG and in the other the trusty double barrel. His smile was creepy and the head behind him scared them shitless. "Hello gentlemen. My name is Ranma Saotome otherwise known as The Kyoto Hurricane. If you wish to live then you'll work for me, if you don't wish to live, please try passing up my offer and walk away, you'll be sure to find yourself in a grave shortly. Now him and I" Ranma picked up the lifeless head by the hair and held it up for them to see. "are going to pay some people a visit. If you try running away before I come back, I'll find ya and fucking kill ya. If you try telling one of your faggotty little buddies across town that I've taken over this lovely mansion and try to ambush me when I come back, then I'll find ya and fucking kill ya. Now I'm going to need a driver. Now whom shall I employ to chauffeur me to a destination where Jasper may be?"

One of the men raised a shaky hand. "N-no one really knows where Jasper is. I-I can take you to a drug house he'll check though."

Ranma's smile increased in size and he walked over to the guy. "That's all I need. Now you three are probably a little scared of me right now, and for good reason. I'm holding a human head in my hand right now, but just know that deep down I'm a nice guy and I'll pay fairly for your services and if my standards aren't up to par then I'll fucking kill ya. Are we clear as to my proposal?"

The three nodded quickly and Ranma went over to another one. "Good, that means none of ya are gonna die. Now go downstairs, and tell who ever is alive that I'm planning on being the boss around here and if they don't like it, tell em' to come up here and have a word with Timmy. Till then clear out the bodies, fill their mouths with cement and chuck em' in the river." Ranma pointed at his driver and asked, "You, what's your name?"

"…Joey…"

"Let's go Joey."

Joey stopped the car just outside of a two-story house and Ranma got out. "I'll be back in a second." Ranma stood in the front yard and set up for the pitch. He threw the head full force through a window with a light on and after a couple of screams a man stuck his head out. Ranma waved at him and said. "Hiya. Tell Jasper, Ranma says hi." He turned around and got back in the car and Joey hit the gas. "Well done Joey. Let me off on old main and I'll be back in the morning. And remember, I'll be armed to the tooth when I get back."

"Yessir…"

The man in the window looked down at he head and soon five others surrounded him. They all knew who it was and the gold tooth didn't help hide the truth they didn't want to face. "Oh, no fucking way… Jasper's gonna be pissed…"

(Leonard Cohen - Woke Up This Morning: Thought I'd get this up before too many people thought I ended it. More ass kicking to come.)


	14. Boom

Boom

Ranma found himself kneeling over in a back alley holding his stomach and releasing its contents. Maybe it was an after effect of the drugs. Maybe his body wasn't used to the physical stress yet. No it was because he'd just killed twenty-one people in one night and he'd just thrown a head through the window of dangerous man's drug house. It hit him that he had snapped a little. No longer thinking straight with a vendetta against a guy he's never met before. Hell it could be worse, he could have slipped and fell in his own puke. He didn't know what to do just yet, so he started making a habit of finding every last dark alley and walked down it with the silent hope that some one would jump him and kill him in the process. He was acting like a zombie now and shuffled his feet blindly into any random direction. It wasn't until he was half way across a small bridge that he realized that it was starting to feel cold out. The suit was nice but it failed to keep him warm. No glory seeking punks were around so he kept walking as he thought up his next move.

His brain hurt and the exhaustion was getting to him now and he needed a safe place to crash. His mind wasn't working so he figured Nabiki's place. He stopped at the old dojo again and dug something up from under the tree he owed her and slung it on his shoulder. Another long walk with bad news at the end of it, later. Nabiki was screaming at some one and Ranma didn't feel like getting involved. She must have had a new boyfriend or something it didn't matter much to him, he just wanted a place to crash and he'd kill for it right now.

Ranma knocked on the door a couple times and waited. The screaming didn't stop and the two yelling inside seemed to get louder as Ranma hit the wood. Something about Nabiki calling the cops and how she was a whore and all that other stuff lovebirds tell each other was heard coming from some guy. Ranma knocked again, and for a moment the yelling stopped and then the guy said something about letting him go and then something broke and then he answered the door. "Who the fuck is you!"

Ranma looked at Nabiki's grammarless boyfriend and said. "Yo. Nabiki here?"

"No she ain't!"

"But I heard her voice."

"I bet you did motherfucker! Are you her new fuck toy? Are you the one fucking my woman?"

"Possessive aren't ya?"

Nabiki's voice broke from behind him and she yelled out. "I'm not fucking any one you delusional asshole!"

The guy turned around and told Nabiki to shut up and that's when Ranma walked in. The guy immediately grabbed Ranma's nice new suit jacket and that's when it all came back to him. Ranma's instincts took over and they all told him to hurt this guy. Ranma grabbed the hand, twisted it around quickly and with an uppercut he hit the bottom of the guys elbow to bend and break in the wrong direction. The guy screamed and Ranma was dragging him out by the collar. He pulled him out into the street and pulled out his gun. "Since I haven't seen Nabiki yet, you're gonna live for now, but if she's black and blue when I do see her, I'm gonna use this on ya. If you're smart you'll start running now." Ranma gave the guy a quick boot-stomp to the face and started walking back into Nabiki's place.

She was standing at the doorway with a fat lip and looked scared when she saw Ranma. It was odd but she opened her arms and hugged him when he was close. "Oh, my god I thought you were dead…"

"I feel like I've been dead. How've ya been?"

"Fucking horrible."

"Tell me about it later. I seriously need to sleep."

"Sure." Nabiki kept her death grip on Ranma for a while before she finally gave him a couch and a few blankets.

It took him close to an hour to finally close his eyes and get a little sleep. It hadn't been long at all, but he was already seeing ghosts. Little shadows in the room that creped him out and kept him awake. He was savage against those fucks and most of them didn't deserve it, but those faces went away after some time. There were a couple faces in particular that always came back to him. It was his gang, the other three he worked with. They didn't scare him but it was the disappointed look in their eyes that he couldn't stand. He let them down before he could figure out they were screwed. Hikori couldn't get away in time, and Zero never stood a chance. Sheela… She should have been protected but as usual she protected him by luring the gun away, and he fucked it up when he brought it back towards him.

Ranma had grown so used to thing working out no matter what that he never thought about what would happen if it didn't. He came to a city he wasn't ready for and he should have taken every one's advice, even that bastard Ryouga. It wasn't the same Nerima anymore. No longer that peaceful, little hot spot for every last kung fu wing-nut all bringing milk and honey, but a place for bad guys with guns and poison. There's a time for fists and a time for guns. Ranma preached it but never followed through. From now on he wasn't going to take shit from anyone and nothing was going to slide. If killing them was in the agenda then they were all gonna die. He'd kill em' all and all for one reason. It wouldn't be for the people, it wure as hell wouldn't be for the city, to hell with the kids, no one was left to be saved, it wasn't for the good old memories, and defiantly not for the happy-go-lucky, happy, sunshine loving, dancing, singing, frolicking, tree hugging, flower picking, fuck sticks that were there before. It was gonna be all about the cold hard revenge for killing a cool chick and that was it.

He woke up two hours later to hear Nabiki step quietly into the room. She was mostly naked and standing over him. He opened his eyes for a better look and she didn't move. It was becoming clear that she was offering him something, but he couldn't help but feel impudent over the situation. "What are you doing?" He asked tiredly and unimpressed.

Her mouth jittered for a few seconds and she kneeled down beside him. "I want you Ranma…"

She leaned over for a kiss but he placed his hand on her face and pushed her back. "Can I have an honest answer please?"

She crossed her arms over her chest for a few seconds and a sniffling could be heard. A few stress related laughs made their way into her voice as she tried to talk. "Have you ever felt so trapped that you just didn't know what else to do, but give up?"

"Oddly, yes."

She started to cry a little, and wanted to break down right there. "Don't you see what I've been doing…? I'm going around fucking any last guy so he can protect me… For gods sake every one thinks you're dead…"

Ranma thought about that for a second and asked. "Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I'm alive?"

Nabiki didn't answer the question right away. Instead she went onto something else while waving a shaky finger. "When I found out you were coming back, I knew. I knew that every thing was going to be ok again. I knew everything was going to work out. I knew you were going to fight some one and fix everything, but the day you 'died' I gave up… Every one gave up… Ryouga just gave up before any of us."

"So how do you feel now?"

"I don't know… I hate that. Not knowing what to do… I just want to touch you and make sure you're real. I need something solid to hold onto, to know it's there."

Ranma knew that he could have just grabbed her and fucked the shit out of her right then and there. Easily could have gotten away with it and wake up with some good old morning wood with a hot little slim babe pressed up against him with memories of 'last night'. But he just didn't feel like it. It felt awkward. "It doesn't mean ya have fuck me Nabiki. You're still looking for some one to watch out for you, but I'm telling you now that I'm not very good at it. I lost my fiancé you know?"

Nabiki sat silent for a few moments. "I know… We had two grave's made and put your names side by side… Akane was heart broken… Kasumi couldn't even bring herself to come, and dad…" Nabiki's voice trailed off and stopped mid-sentence.

Ranma rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. "Tell me, I'm curious now."

"I don't know what you did to dad, but he's got his life back on track. Kasumi said he got a job a week after you visited and he's not drinking anymore." Nabiki let a few more sniffles come out. "That was the first ray of light. That's when we knew you were going to fix everything."

"Who's 'we'?"

Nabiki shook her head and again went onto something else. "I told you Ranma… You shouldn't have trusted any of us. Timmy had us all put up to selling you out. Some of the offers were almost unbelievable… But we did our best to hold out for you till you fixed it… But Ryouga just couldn't stand it."

"Where is he?" Ranma was getting irritated and his bloodlust was coming back. "Where's he hiding?"

Nabiki let a sniffle come back and she wanted to grab Ranma, but she knew he wouldn't let her. "I don't know… He just ran away and got lost. After he shot you he was missing for almost three weeks, and he came again to check on Ukyo…"

Ranma had enough of Nabiki beating around the bush and grabbed her hair. "Where the fuck is he?"

She shrieked lightly and hit his hand. She backed away from him and stared for a few seconds. "Y-you're…"

Ranma stopped her before she could make a sentence and started talking himself. "Look I know you've got your little sob story, and guess what? I don't fucking care anymore. Every one's got their own teary eyed little tale about people fucking them over, but you know what? I still don't fucking care. If every one sold me out then tell me why I should bend over backwards for all you assholes?"

Nabiki sat their stunned and for once didn't know what to say. "I…"

"What? You gonna tell me something else now? How about you tell me about Akane next? Hit me in the soft spot. Let me guess first though. She was in a minimal detainment while agreeing to weed me out so Jasper could kill me. Oh, I've thought about this for a while Nabiki, but now that you've told me I can piece it together on my own. Newsflash bitch, I don't fucking care about you guys anymore, all I've got is myself because I'm the only one I can seem to trust anymore considering EVERY ONE'S FUCKING DEAD! I'm happy that Mr. Tendo got his life back on track, but it doesn't help me now does it? Every one's free from the evil clutches of Jasper because I died? Whoopty-fucking-do. I've got my own little sob story too ya know? But do you care?"

Again Nabiki couldn't say anything so she just waited for Ranma to go on. "No, I didn't think so Nabiki. Because you guys were so wrapped up in your own little crying games that you couldn't even figure out that you idiots were playing with my life twenty-four seven. I was actually some-what happy before Ryouga showed up at my door one day asking for help, and when I gave it to him he shot Sheela and then me! HOW IS THIS FUCKING FAIR NABIKI? HOW THE FUCK IS THIS FAIR TO ME?"

Ranma got up off the couch and started gathering his things. He kept ranting as he picked up his bits and pieces. "You know what fair is Nabiki? It's trust between friends and allies. Fair is when you do your friends no wrong." He picked up the bag he dug up and dumped the cash out onto Nabiki's table. "That's yours from the job we pulled. It's yours because I've never done you any wrong and I'm keeping that closet clean. It's more then you've ever done for me. It's more then any of you have done for me. I'm fucking out of here." He threw on his coat and left out the door.

After a few moments Nabiki got up and ran to the door still wearing only a pair of panties. She saw Ranma walking out into the street and yelled. "What happened to you? I'll listen!"

Ranma saw that Nabiki's now ex-boyfriend was passed out in the street, most likely ignored by people thinking he was a drunk with the thought that he'd get up on his own. He'd probably blacked out from shock. He turned to her and yelled back. "You'll listen? Fucking perfect! This is what happened to me! First I was happy." Ranma showed her a large grin that stretched across his face and then he pointed at Nabiki's ex. "Then I was thrown to the ground." Then Ranma started kicking him in the face. "Then I was in a weak position and taken advantage of." Then Ranma pulled out his gun. "Then I was shot five times by some gutless bitch!" And Ranma reenacted the scene by pumping five bullets into the ex, now very dead. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Bye bye ya selfish bitch! Tell all the back stabbers I said, hi!" He waved goodbye and left.

Nabiki screamed in frustration and slammed her door. When it was closed she pressed her back against it and slid to the ground with her head in her hands. "Why did you have to change…?" She asked it out loud but she already knew why. She also knew cops were gonna be banging on her door any time soon.

Ranma was back on the streets and he was more pissed then he was before. His blood was boiling and he was still tired. Every so often he'd hit something followed with a curse and he'd keep going on. At one point he found a homeless man and decided to beat the living hell out of him for no reason. It was cruel and the only thing that'd make him happy now was Ryouga's death. He was rested enough to look and he made his way to the one person that'd know where Ryouga was at that moment. Ranma just hoped he hadn't skipped town just yet.

Boris's strip club was still there and there didn't seem to be a change in ownership since he was last there. Ranma walked through the front doors and broke the bouncer's nose when he asked for some ID. After that it was smooth sailing straight into the back and through those memorable doors. So memorable that he broke one right off the hinges as he entered. "Holy shit! You're alive!"

Ranma didn't say too much at first, but he grabbed Boris's thinning hair and pulled him to the ground where he started punching and beating him with wild shots. "Where's Paul asshole?"

"Jesus fuck man! Calm down! He's taking a leak!"

Ranma brought him to his feet with both hands and pushed him towards the broken door. "Then go and get him. I need a word with em'."

"You got a fucking problem man! Hold on and don't hit any one!"

Ranma's face was turning bright red with anger so he pulled out his gun and shot into the roof. "Now!" His voice came out piercing the air and made Boris's ears hurt.

A couple seconds passed and Paul was being pushed into the room against his will. "Let me put me fucking dick away mate! Fucking hell!" Paul's eyes widened as he zipped up and he started struggling harder against Boris. "Oh, fuck! I told you e' was alive!"

Ranma walked up and pulled Paul by the ear. He spoke with that sadistic tone he'd been getting to know better lately. "Come here Pauly. I got a question for ya."

"Ow! Fuck! Leggo!"

Ranma threw him onto the couch, pulled out his six-shooter, cocked back the hammer and asked one simple question. "Where is Ryouga Hibiki? And you only have one chance to answer me."

Paul put up his hands above his wide eyes and knew Ranma wasn't fucking around. He kept his voice as calm as he could and spoke slowly. "He's not here and that's all I know mate. I swear me fucking life on it to. Please don't shoot me man."

Ranma had heard the line before and for once he was starting to lower his piece. "Of coarse you don't…"

Paul kept his hands up and asked with his same calm. "Do you want to know where he was last? It was six weeks ago."

Paul's calm rubbed off onto Ranma and he put his gun away. "Sure."

"The last I urd' e' was in a run down farm house up in the ill's. Old Maggie's place I think. Awe fuck I forgot er' name but it's up past Cristo Drive along a dirt road any ways. E' hasn't been seen since. Are we cool man?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah… We're cool."

"Good, now yer gunna be thankful ya didn't shoot me mate, I've got sumthin' for ya."

Ranma waited patiently. "And it is?"

"I urd' a rumor that you were still kickin' so I looked around. I couldn't find you but I found yur geeky little buddy. He's got a little electronics shop down on south main."

Ranma nodded a couple times. "So Zero's alive…"

"E's in question though. Ya might want to keep clear for a while. Now please go before Timmy find's you ere'."

Ranma turned around and got ready for another walk. "Timmy's dead Paul. I took his suit and threw his head through a window. You'll hear about it tomorrow I'm sure."

"Oh, fuck me… You've made a terrible mistake my friend."

"I'm sure I have." Ranma smile for a second and thought, 'Why the hell not?' "Hey Paul. I'm feelin' kinda drowsy. You got anything that can help me stay awake?"

"Coffee?"

"Maybe something with a little more umf."

"I might." Paul's glace stayed cautious as he tried to figure out if Ranma was actually asking him for what he thought he was asking him for. "We ave' a little somethin' that'll perk ya up, but…"

"I need something that'll make me feel fucking good and unstoppable. I need to stay awake."

Paul slowly pulled out a little plastic baggy from out of the couch and in it was some white powder. "Yer' not pulling me chain are ya? I've got a little bit of nose candy right here if you want it."

Ranma nabbed the little bag and waved at Paul. "What do I owe ya?"

"That's thanks for killin' Timmy. That shit'll take ya to heaven and back, but for fuck sakes don't do the whole bag in one go."

"Generosity will be rewarded Paul. See you guys around."

As Ranma was leaving Paul had to ask something. "Ey! I aven't seen your sister around."

Ranma laughed as he walked out and threw the baggy in his pocket. "What sister?"

Both Paul and Boris became very confused in that moment. "Who was that then?"

Ranma left the question unanswered, stepped on the bouncer and stepped out of the club.

Ranma found a nice little crotch rocket just around the corner to he decided to take it. When he got the thing started he laid a line across the gas tank and inhaled. The coke powder coated his nostrils as well as the back of his throat and he couldn't help but cough up a lung, however after the disgusting feeling passed, it was replaced with a full-body orgasm and a godly feeling. The effects didn't take long and colors were becoming amazing to look at. He bobbed his head back and forward a couple of times taking in the unreal rush it'd given him. He started laughing as his pupils became bigger and he hit the gas. The back wheel of the bike started spinning leaving a nice black patch behind and ahead of it was Ranma screaming and laughing like a madman as he brought the bike up to 130 in the wrong lane. He started to pretend that the bike didn't have breaks and was on an adventure to see what cool things could slow him down. He let his feet drag on the ground and giggled at the bumping feeling it sent through his feet. For the first time in a while he was alive and feeling it across every inch of his body and right to the tips of his hair. He was the embodiment of electrified. He was heading for Old Maggie's farm for clues, but not before doing a few stupid things that felt like fun.

Incidentally after finding the highway and riding on the concrete divider he had a tail on him and it smelled like pork. Cops were closing in on him with lights flashing and this was a perfect opportunity for some fucked up shit. He started slowing down and pulled off onto the side of the road and the cops did the same, but before he was completely stopped he held the front brake down, hit the gas and pulled a quick 180 turn. He laughed as he let go of the brake and pulled up the front wheel heading straight for the cop car. In moments he was airborne of his new ramp and opened his arms wide to let the wind rush past him. He yelled with excitement as he closed he eyes and waited to land. The crawling feeling in his chest felt invigorating and the noise of the engine between his legs brought him higher then he'd ever felt before.

The motorcycle landed with a loud screech and once again he was speeding down the wrong side of the road playing chicken with ever car that he passed. After a while lights became lines and all he could hear was his steady breath. It echoed through his ears and he felt like an animal. With his speed he felt like a cheetah hunting after something wild like him. Tonight was his fucking night and he was going to raise hell and burn it back down into the ground. Every one was going to know he was alive after tonight and with that they would fear him. His mind started to wonder but the headlight coming right at him snapped him out of it and he took evasive maneuvers. He laid the bike on its side and just barely missed the tires of the semi passing him. He kicked himself back up and after fishtailing for a little bit he notice that his nice suit was ripped and his leg cut up. "Oh, I don't fucking think so!" Once again he pulled a 180 turn and started heading for the truck that almost hit him. As he got up to speed the police car that tried to pull him over was chasing after him on the other side of the barrier with lights flashing and all, but after he passed by the cop hit the brakes, which was a big mistake.

The police car started sliding and the determined cop driving the car was trying to turn around but high speeds don't help when others don't know how to dodge. The cop was first t-boned and then the pile up started. Each and almost every car in the area slammed on their brakes and started smashing into each other. Twisted metal and broken glass spread across the highway and two cops were in the center of it all. Good thing one was still breathing and had a working radio after pile up was done. "Ow…" The cop reached up at the dashboard and pulled down the speaker. "This is car 43, two officers down on highway 97. Send immediate back up, there's a damn lunatic ripping up and down the wrong sides of the road on a high performance motorcycle. He's caused a massive pile up of an estimated 32 vehicles. Send officers, medics, fire department and approach with extreme caution. I repeat code fucking red!" Ranma was about to have some of that real fun he was waiting for, but first he was going to have a word with a big old truck driving man.

Ranma balance on the seat of the bike with one foot and held the handles steady with another. He got close to the drivers side window and started yelling at the guy, while pointing at his leg. "Hey! Look what you made me do ya jerk! Hey! Are ya listening?"

The driver gave him a funny look and flipped Ranma the bird. "How rude…" The driver started speeding up but Ranma had a plan. He sat back down and sped up ahead of the truck. When he was a good distance ahead he grabbed his gun and leaned back for the shot to the tires. Ranma made sure to repay the one finger salute and let a couple shots fly. Again speed failed to mix well with a sliding vehicle and a bunch of others that couldn't figure out how to stop. As Ranma looked back he could see fire starting behind him as well as a few people bailing out of their cars before they collided and he couldn't help but laugh. "I'm back! And I'm better then ever!" Ranma gave out a standard 'rock on' gesture with his free hand and continued his run down the highway. "I FEEL FUCKING AMAZING!" And that's when he heard multiple sirens coming his way.

Ranma was playing follow the leader with a police squad coming his way. They were behind him and that feeling of being euphorically alive started bubbling and overflowed through out his entire body, as he knew what was to come. They closed in from behind meaning that a roadblock was being made up ahead. "WOOO HOOO! WOOO! FUCKING! HOOO!" He could see it now! The spinning lights atop the roofs of the law enforcement. He wasn't going to slow down now. He was so close to the action he could practically taste it! He leaned down and got his head under the small windshield and for some reason the color green seemed out of this fucking world. His eyes started to blur as he raced across the stretch and as he came closer it he got more exciting.

The world around him must have slowed down just for him at that very moment. He saw little bolts of fire come out of the ends of some of their guns as well as a trail of smoke coming towards him being pulled by a small piece of lead coming right at him. He watched the bullets come and he swerved the bike with such pristine and timing that he may as well of reached out and grabbed them. The spinning lights became slow as well and it was no longer a flash from blue to red, but moments where everything was shaded red, and then shaded blue. He could watch everyone change color and smiled as he did so, and then it happened again. All the headlights and sirens started speeding up and soon they became nothing more then speeding lines of light passing him by at break-neck speeds. He was blind and feeling wild again. He felt utterly unstoppable. Instead of slowing down he sped up and risked the roadblock blind. Then time kept starting and stopping light photo's being taken in his head. Sometimes the photos would be blue and sometimes they would be red. In some of them bullets were close to him and in others they were far away. They started coming together quickly and made a choppy movie he felt he was watching. Then he saw stars like he was looking straight up at them and then he felt his body become weightless.

It was clear now; he was flying into space, to meet all those guys that went home! He was going to see Elvis and that guy that played Fonzy! And Jim Fucking Morrison! It was the greatest moment of his life; the only thing that he couldn't figure out though, was why his bike was further ahead of him in the lineup to space. He kept flipping like an acrobat into the night sky with the wind against his face, but then for some reason, gravity felt like kicking into overdrive and dragged him back to earth. "No! Elvis!" He watched the road come at him again but he was flying sideways. As he came closer to the pavement it suddenly disappeared and turned into a steep embankment with trees all around. "FUCK!"

Most people would think falling through the trees would seem like a better thing then just outright hitting the ground however one must keep in mind that trees are not just soft loving leaves, but also composed of hateful sticks, branches, and other pointy things. Sort of like what was sticking out of Ranma's leg when he finally hit the ground. "AHHH!" It took the gentle woo of a policeman on a megaphone to get Ranma to his feet and start limping away quickly.

If Ranma had at all been tired he defiantly wasn't at that point anymore. He was as high as a kite and doing his best to run through the woods away from anyone that may have been following. He forgot about police dogs, but at least it was something he wasn't worrying about right now. He kept trudging on as hard as he could, jumping logs and rolling under low branches, but then out of nowhere he just lost all of his energy. His eyes went wide and he fell flat on his face. He looked up and heard nothing. He was coming down again and he only knew one quick cure for it. "Fuck…" His pockets were empty. He'd dropped damn near everything in the fall including the duffle bag of guns he'd tied to the back of the bike. "Fuck…!" His coke was gone, must have fallen out on his pants pocket, not when he fell but when slid the bike on its side. The only things he had left now were a suit that'd been ripped to shit and a six-shooter with four rounds. Giving up slowly started to become an option. He was too weak to have anything left. He needed sleep again, and this time there were no excuses, but he couldn't sleep here in the mud. He had to get up and see how far he could go.

He eventually pushed himself up and felt all the pain he'd missed that night. He didn't even notice it at first but five of his stitches had blown and he was leaking gross fluids and covering his wounds in dirt. It was bleak now but he had to go on. Pain means nothing if you're gonna die, so he got to his feet and started stepping slowly forward. He could still hear his breath echoing in his ears and then his feet felt like a couple of cement blocks. He shuffled his feet forward and after ten minutes he saw flashlights coming towards him and a dog barking. He tried to run but he fell to his knees instead. The pain made it's way to his mouth and he had to let out a shout. It didn't help him any and soon cops were coming his way. He couldn't get up again; he was spent, and defeated. So there he waited on his knees in the mud for his definite arrest.

Five cops surrounded him and one whistled. "Whew… Boys look what we got here. It's the Kyoto Hurricane. And here I thought Willis was just some crackpot."

Ranma swayed from side to side and said, "Just fucking cuff me…"

Another one spoke up and laughed. "Oh, man did you hear that? He thinks we're gonna cuff him. That's just wishful thinking for you asshole."

One of them came over and booted Ranma in the face sending him to the ground. "This joker seems to think he's gonna get a nice cushy cell. He's way off!"

Another officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ranma. "We have orders my friend. From a very important man might I add?"

Ranma didn't even have to think about it long. They meant Jasper, and they had orders to kill Ranma. Ranma pushed himself onto his ass and looked at the officer with a smile and a bloody lip. "So Jasper's got the NDP on his side to… I should have guessed."

"Yeah ya should have known bitch!" Another kick to the face but Ranma didn't hit the ground, he was able to stay up and balance himself.

Ranma shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You guys are fucking pathetic… Selling out like that… If you're gonna shoot me then fucking shoot me ya limp wrist son of bitch."

A gun pressed against his head and Ranma was without fear. He didn't have the strength to lift his arms to defend himself, but it didn't matter though. Living was becoming overrated and depressing. Suicide by cop was a good way to go; at least you don't have to pull the trigger yourself. Then Ranma's eyes widened. What the fuck was he thinking? Shit! He was coming down from the drugs. It was fucking with his head, making him think stupid. Coming down was becoming more dangerous then being high itself and he'd just put a gun right against his head. 'What the hell are you thinking? Stop being such a fucking baby, you little bitch! They're gonna kill you!' Ranma's mind was racing and then he saw Sheela in his head. 'Do it for her! Get the fuck up! You've got something left! Remember?' Ranma's eyes turned wild as the officer gloated to his buddy's.

"Man! I'm about to do in the famous Kyoto Hurricane! Who wants to touch me?"

With a burst of raw adrenaline he lifted one arm and pushed the gun away, while with the other he balled it up into a fist and came up with a fierce jawbreaker. He took the gun that just fired two shots past his leg and shot another officer in the face. Ranma's bloodlust was back with a vengeance and he felt like going crazy. The other three were busy upholstering their guns but Ranma was already on fire with hell's flames. His martial arts came back to him, it'd been a while since he last used it, but it was back. He still had that sharp stick sticking out of his calf and he used it to pierce the head of the man he'd just given a round house to. Ranma twisted his leg to break the stick off in his head and came at number four with big solid two-punch combo. The first punch got the cop in the stomach and the second planted itself right on the side of his head making an instant knock out. As the cop fell Ranma pumped a bullet in his chest to make sure he died and then it was down to the last guy. He had his gun out, but Ranma was too quick for him. He tackled the cop to the ground and started to brutally head butt him to death.

After Ranma was done beating the meaty pulp with his forehead he rolled over onto his ass and gave all the bodies on the ground a courtesy shot just to make sure they were all dead. One gasped when he shot him so it was a good thing he checked. And then he was back where he began. He fell down face first into the mud and couldn't focus anymore. He was burnt out and had nothing left in him to give. They were dead, the dog ran away and all he needed to do was sleep off his exhaustion, too bad he heard some more barking in the distance. "I don't think I can do that again…"

Then something in the bushes caught his weary attention. It was small and stepped quietly towards him. Ranma tilted his head a little and got an eye on it. "Old man…"

The short stubby old man looked down at the bloody beaten Ranma and said. "My, my what have you been getting yourself into my boy?"

"Just help me old man." Ranma's eyes turned glassy and slowly he closed his eyes. 'Just fucking help me old man… I need to sleep.'

-

-

(POD – Boom : I noticed that my last couple of chapters were ended quickly and I'd like to apologize for that right now. I'm a little miffed at myself for doing that instead of taking my time and giving you something good. Any ways I'm going to do my best to not pull that bullshit anymore and I'm going to give all you readers something worth reading. I'd like to once again ask for you all to have fun and party hard. Every things going to be awesome no matter how cruel life may seem. P.S: JIM FUCKING MORRISON!)


	15. Space Cowboy

Space Cowboy

He was dreaming now, nothing too special about it though. Just a bunch of images to keep his mind busy before he woke up to face the world once more. He'd been so burnt out that he couldn't help but sleep well for the rest of the night and well into the afternoon. He'd woken up a couple times but blocked out the sun and pulled a mystery blanket over his face to escape back to that comfort he needed. However it was ruined at about one in the afternoon when he rolled off his little bed and onto a small, yet outstanding rock below. "ARGH!"

He pushed himself up and realized that his back was stiff along with a terrible hunger pain in his stomach, but his attention was taken away from that when he tried to pull his legs up and felt another pain that just didn't make his day. "OW!" He'd forgotten about the puncture wound on his calf as well as the mile high road rash he had happening on the other leg. Ranma gave up and fell on his back again, right back onto that rock and moaned. He frowned as he looked up at the wooden ceiling with a half tear in his eye and knew at that moment that it was going to be a bad day. "Today's gonna blow…"

"You're a noisy when you wake up, you know?"

Ranma rolled his neck and turned his head to the voice. "Technically I haven't even got out of bed yet and I already feel like crap…" Ranma saw his reflection in a mirror just a few feet away and saw all the bruises and gashes on his face. "And I look like five miles of bad roadwork…"

Happosia shrugged his little shoulders and said. "Well you did manage to catapult yourself off a police barricade, so its expected that your landing wasn't the smoothest, I'm just concerned that you haven't been keeping up with your practice if a tiny fall like that could hurt you this badly."

Ranma thought about it for a little bit and said. "Whoa… I was convinced I was going to see Elvis."

"What?"

"Never mind… And you're right I haven't been keeping up."

"May I ask why?"

"I was bed ridden for two months and before that I had no one to keep me in shape."

"I call it laziness myself."

Ranma was still flat on his back and let out a breath. "Yeah, probably… I guess I should thank you or something."

The old man let a puff of his pipe blow out of his mouth and said. "No problem. I saw my best student in need of my help so I merely helped him in a time of need. I am still disappointed at how easily you were defeated. You're going to need to start training again my boy."

Ranma finally managed to sit up and got an arm on his bed. "Howling monkeys are more likely to come flying out of my ass old man. I'm too busy for that crap right now."

"Still and ungrateful brat I see…"

"Think what you want old man, but I found out something that I don't think you know yet."

"Oh?"

Ranma managed to lift himself onto the edge of the bed and let out a breath of relief when he planted himself on it. "I found out that no matter how much martial arts you know, and no matter how hard you train it, hone it, and focus it, you still won't be able to walk that well after taking a bullet."

Happosia raised an eyebrow and gave Ranma a look. "You're sure about that?"

Ranma patted his chest and said. "Thanks for patching me up, but I'd like to burst your bubble by saying that these were made with a gun. I'm lucky to be alive old man."

"Your actions say otherwise."

"Oh, boy here comes the lecture…"

"Hmph." The old man crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air. "I remember having a rude foul mouthed student but he was tolerable back then."

"That was then this is now, don't confuse the two old man."

"So that's how it is?"

Ranma nodded. "Yup. I've been told that every one in some way has managed to stick a big old knife in my back, so I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a bit of a jerk right now."

"Did you even listen to any of them Ranma? You must have known what happened to that poor Amazon girl."

"I heard… I can't say I don't care, because I do. She helped me so I'm gonna return the favor by killing a bad man."

The old man laughed lightly. "I hope you don't think that's going to make things better, do you?"

"Ranma started to stretch out his arms and cracked his back. "It's the best I can do, I guess. But really, what more can I do?"

"You can open your ears and hear what happened. Maybe you'll find out something to forgive them."

Ranma laughed sarcastically and found his magnum. After giving the revolver a spin he spoke with his head shaking. "How can I forgive Ryouga old man? What about my story? Every one knows that little nut shell."

"What happened to her was unforgivable I'll admit, and I'll even admit that Ryouga deserves punishment for what he's done, but you must realize that the world doesn't revolve around you boy. That's just a fantasy for people who are either full of themselves, or have no one to turn to."

"You hit the nail right on the head with that one old man. I have no one to turn to anymore. How can I know that they won't do what Ryouga did?"

"Because every one but the Amazons and a few selected people don't know that you are still alive boy. How do you suppose they were able to identify the body found at the scene as you?"

"Dumbasses? Technical error?"

"Doctor Tofu made a few calls and arrange for your father to identify the body as yours."

"Dad? Why would he lie about me?"

"He lied to protect you until you could recovered."

Ranma had to roll that around in his head for a little bit. It didn't make sense to him. "Why Pops though? I thought he hated me."

"You have to open your eyes boy."

"They are open, and I'm not seeing anything."

"Open them wider then. He's one of few that didn't take any bribes to sell you out. He was trying to keep you away so you wouldn't end up like you did on that night."

"Ok… Why not mom? How come she couldn't do it?"

"Wider Ranma. As lousy as your father is he is still a father nonetheless. He's done many stupid things before, but what he'd never do is hand you over to some one that wanted to kill you."

"We're talking about MY dad right? He's thrown me to the wolves more often then I can count."

"But how many of them were times you couldn't make it out? I think it's called tough love."

"Ok, I'll try an accept that, but again, why not mom?"

The old man shrugged. "She didn't know her son. All she knew about her son was that he was a psychopath and all the stories you left behind in all those places you raised Hell in."

Ranma felt like he'd just been jabbed in the stomach but he was getting used to it. "Ouch…" Ranma gave it a bit of thought before he went on. "I guess it's easy to sell out a psychopath you've never met before…"

"She just wanted to see you. Even if that meant in police custody."

Ranma scratched his head and picked at his leg for a second. "I guess that's why she was spooked when she saw me." Ranma kept picking at his scabs and went on. "Thinking back on it now I must have given her a number when I beat the living daylights out of Pops."

"Well I can't say he didn't deserve it, however he's hardly been a match for you for a long time now. I think if he wasn't drunk he could have defended himself a little better."

Then Ranma stopped for a second. The old man had just spoken a small little detail that could have been easily overlooked, but he said it like he was there. How did he know his old man was drunk when he gave him the beating? "How did you know he was drunk old man?"

"It's just what I heard."

"From who?"

"Why does it matter boy?"

Ranma gave the old man an icy glance and said. "It matters a lot old man." Ranma aimed his gun at Happosia and asked kindly. "Am I being paranoid old man? I can't help but think that you know something I don't."

The old man smiled and let some smoke pass out of his nose. "I know a lot more then you ever will boy, and where I get my information from is one of my secrets."

"I'm not in the mood to play games old man. I've been sold out by every body so far, what's different about you?"

"Now you are being paranoid boy. Why would they even bother dealing with a washed up old fart like me? I didn't sell you out boy, and I can assure you that. Now tell me this. If you shot me what would you do?"

"I'd probably celebrate."

"Do you even know where you are? Do you know your way back into town? Do you even know where I keep the food around here?"

Ranma's eye twitch and then the hammer came back. "I'm sure I can find everything fine."

"Not on those legs you can't."

Ranma looked down but only for a brief moment and in that time the old man gave his pipe a shake to let the burning ash inside to fly out and fall on Ranma's wound. "ARGH!" Ranma swept it off quickly but as he did so the old man pulled the gun right out of Ranma's hand and gave it a looking over. "HEY!"

"This is a fine gun you have here boy. Very old school if I do say so myself. Now you're going to listen to what this old man's going to say or you're not getting it back."

Ranma didn't have much choice so he just sat holding his throbbing leg. "Fine…"

"I'm telling you this only once boy, I never really got involved with this whole situation. It doesn't really concern me if you know what I mean."

"Greedy as always I see."

"It's rude to interrupt. Now ever since you ran away everybody you left behind has been sliding into troubled times. I'm sure you've seen this by now."

"Not my problem."

"It is my boy. It very well is your problem."

"They stabbed me in the back. Why shouldn't I walk away?"

"Because this whole thing started with you walking away Ranma. You turned your back on them first, so now you're left to face the consequences of your actions."

"I remember being chased out and having not much other choice then showing them my back, but hey, what do I know?"

"You still ran boy and since you started you've been spiraling downwards. You've committed crime, you've abused people's lives, and you've abused yourself with drugs and alcohol."

"I believe that's my problem and none of your business. I don't bust your balls when ever you smoke old man."

The old man lightly tossed the gun back into Ranma's lap and spoke. "I suppose it isn't my business, but maybe I should start making it my business."

"Great timing old man." Ranma started clapping his hands. "I love it. Come in after every things been done, so why didn't you think about getting involved before?"

"Because this is your fight Ranma. This is your responsibility. I gave you the training and discipline to take care of your fights and you went and screwed it up."

Ranma was starting to have enough of this chastising and found a large old stick he could use as a cane. "Yeah, I guess I screwed up. Lord knows I can't save any one anymore either, so I guess I'll just go out an get shot then."

Ranma managed to get to his feet a kept his weight on the stick. "Where are you going boy? You're in no shape to be walking around the woods in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm going to somewhere that isn't here. Don't follow me old man."

"I wasn't planning to boy." As Ranma found something that was like a door he pushed it open to have the sunlight smack him in the face. Before he stepped out the old man asked a question. "I'm curious boy. Have you visited your lady's grave yet?"

Ranma's eyes went wide for a brief second and then they went cold. "Why would I want to go see a mound of dirt with a rock sticking out of it?"

"I see… So what about that girl Ukyo? Aren't you going to help her?"

"She doesn't need my help…" Ranma stood at the door with his head hanging down into the open air.

"You know… She was never in a coma."

"I probably could have guessed if I'd bothered to think about it."

"She's still in the hospital though. That Jasper character has kept her drugged up and sleeping for months now. Don't you want to go help her?"

Ranma thought about it for a little while and started to walk out with a cold shoulder to the world. "That's Ryouga's department. Not mine. If he can't be bothered to save her then I shouldn't be either."

Happosia shrugged his shoulders and spoke when Ranma was out of earshot. "If that's how you truly feel then so be it boy, but I don't believe for a second that's what you think."

Ranma was lost in the sticks feeling his way through it as best he could. His legs were stiff in the jean shorts the old man had put on him, and one leg he couldn't bring himself to use. It was rough traveling and he was thinking hard again. Thinking about what the old man had said. Thinking about the position he'd put every one in. The old man was perverted shit disturber but he was defiantly right about a few things. Ranma had turned his back on every one first and now he was traveling down the wrong road to recovery. Going crazy and doing drugs are for people that can't cope with reality. Maybe he couldn't cope any more, maybe he was crazy, but for now he had his alone time and he was using it to think. The unfortunate part was that he was angry again. He thought with his head up his ass when he was angry and this time it was no different then every other time he'd done it. Got mad, stomped off, and blame every one else for all his worldly problems. It seemed to work to well for him.

He eventually got himself onto an old dirt road and was walking up hill. Why he didn't go down hill was a mystery to him. He didn't know why he wanted to go up hill, maybe he was trying to make his life harder on some subconscious level, but it didn't matter much to him right now. He just wanted to walk and to his surprise, after he was all stretched out he was finally able to get both feet to touch the ground and move a little faster. He still limped with each step but things were picking up. By the time six o'clock came around he'd managed to get to the top of the dirt road and found that it was actually a lookout over Nerima.

He stepped between a couple of overhanging trees to sit on a bench that had been set up for tourists. He almost laughed when he sat down and looked down at every thing below him. He realized that he'd been in this spot before back a couple years before the bench was there and he'd probably come out of some distant memory of how to get there. It was a nice little view and from the distant look he had and he noticed that the city didn't actually look all that different. A bunch of huge buildings were out and about in a few new places and large steam stacks from industrial factories made something of a smog ring hang above the city, but other then those things the place looked the same. The school was there and from where he was sitting he couldn't see the graffiti that littered it. He saw that busy part of town where Ukyo and Shampoo had their old shops. He saw that park where Akane had lost her hair and maybe it was the sun in his eyes, or maybe it was a trick his mind was playing on him, but he saw through the residents and trees the old Tendo dojo. The ledge had a perfect view of the side of the house that hadn't been burnt to the ground. He took a certain amount of comfort in that and got comfortable on the bench until the sky turned orange with the sun setting.

Beneath the crime and dirty dealings that made their way in to cover the city was the place he remember greatly. It was still that great old Kung Fu wing nut capitol of the world. The events had been postponed for something new in the city and that new thing had to be taken care of.

Ranma was tired but willing to stay awake but when he shifted his weight a little his butt hurt him and he went in to find out why. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out something he thought he'd lost a long time ago. It was his old wallet. He forgot it when he was chased out of the city and the old man must have nabbed it when no one was looking. 'But why would he…?' Then Ranma nodded with a smile. The old man knew him well and knew Ranma was going to leave. He opened it up to find some good old cash inside. 'You sneaky old bastard…' Ranma put his wallet away with a smile and now the day didn't seem so bad.

Ranma was getting ready to find a place to camp out for the night but he heard a big old truck puttering up the hill. The thing sounded like it was on the verge of breaking down and once it came into view it looked even worse, covered in rust and falling apart. A real man's truck. The driver turned around in the little dirt cul-de-sac. The man driving rolled down his window and greeted Ranma. "Hey there. I'm looking to get into Nerima."

Ranma waved and said. "And I'm looking for a ride in."

The driver laughed and said. "I think we can work out a deal then. Hop in."

"Thanks." Ranma climbed in and showed the tourist into town. They talked about stupid things that made them laugh while listening to some old country tunes. Ranma got out by a phone booth and thanked the man for the ride. He wanted to call his mom but as it turned out he didn't have any change on him. It didn't matter too much, he was in a good mood now so he started walking to a classy looking bar he'd passed by a few times since he'd come to town. He didn't really feel dressed for the place at first, but when he walked in he made a note that no one really cared. He sat down at the bar and ordered something that went down easy from a cute girl behind the counter. Just something to relax him and warm up his stomach. The lady asked him what happened to his face, but Ranma just lied to her and said he fell down some stairs.

The lady said "Bad luck", and handed him a free shot. "That'll make ya feel better."

He thanked her and took it down. It was something sweet mixed with something hard and it did make him feel a little better. Ranma ended up staying there for a while thinking about Sheela. He'd wanted to cry a few times but all the memories he kept thinking were nothing but good ones. He wanted to kick himself for saying he didn't want to go visit the grave. He'd said a lot of things that he never would have said if he were thinking straight. He'd blown up at Nabiki when she asked him for help and by now, with the money he'd given her she was more then likely out of town in some fancy place. He wanted to apologize but he wouldn't know how. He was still a little sour about every one selling him out, but not nearly as much as he was the night before. He'd had time to think about it on his walk and as much as it pained him to admit it, the old man was right. He had a certain amount of responsibility he needed to take but what he was finding hard to accept was that he needed to accept it alone. That part was some serious bullshit that needed fixing.

He went back into his thoughts until a little later on a man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt walked in with an annoyed expression on his face. He sat down close to Ranma and ordered something hard to drink. Every now and again he'd open a little pocket size notebook and look around. Eventually he asked the cute girl behind the counter if she knew a guy named Paul. After she shook her head he looked like he'd given up and ordered some more booze. Since Ranma needed something new on his mind he asked. "Hey, are you looking for an English guy? A real crack head?"

The man in blue looked at Ranma with a relieved look and said. "Yeah. You know him?"

"Yup, he's over at a strip club down on seventh. Boris's place, you can't miss it. He should be in the back somewhere."

The man got up, laid some bills on the counter and said. "Lady, get this guy a basket of wings or something." He looked down at Ranma and said. "Thanks man, you did me a real favor."

Ranma shrugged it off. "No prob. Oh, yeah. Paul talks faster if you dunk his head in a toilet."

"Thanks."

About fifteen minutes passed and Ranma had finished a basket of chicken wings. The man in the retro shirt came back in with a wet arm and ordered a basket of wings for himself. "So how'd it go?"

"The toilet works great."

"You might want to wash your hands before you eat those things."

"Oh, yeah…"

The two started talking, then they were drinking, and soon they were laughing. They gave hints to each other that they were both from the criminal world and soon they were telling each other about all the stupid things they've done. Occasionally one would say, "Dude! That was you?" and the other would say. "Yeah, man. That was totally me!" The topic of cars came up and they were being loud, but the conversation was great to eavesdrop onto. A man they hadn't seen before said, "You're shittin' me!" and either Ranma or the retro man would say, "I shit you not." Jumps and stunts were described as well as all the cars they've managed to total. The laughing continued well into the point were they became bar buddies hopping from bar to bar until they were finally kicked out. Their wallets knew no bounds when it came to drinking games, terminology, experimental beverages, and just getting smashed. They became best friends in one night and were soon holding each other up as they staggered around the streets. Ranma kept a slow pace with his cane giving the booze time to sink in and have its effects.

After a few hours the night became nothing more then images of neon and chugging contests, followed with strippers and card games followed with pool. Ranma smoked a big old Cuban cigar for the first time in his life and after he laughed through his coughing he said he thought he was going to die. After that it became of game of who could smoke the weirdest thing. Ranma won when he tried to smoke a napkin covered in vinegar and ketchup. If either of them threw up that night it was forgotten by morning when the sun struck hard at Ranma's eyes.

He was in a car, in the passenger side seat upside down with a leg through the steering wheel. It was unfortunate that he had to now find a way to maneuver his messed leg out of it and then some how get his other foot out of the driver's mouth without waking him up and starting an awkward silence. Then he started thinking. The driver was a new person he'd never met before and the guy he met last night was sprawled across the back seat with various bottles, CD's and car fresheners balanced on his head. Ranma got his legs back with out waking the driver up and woke up retro man in the back seat. "Hey. Who's you're buddy I forgot his name."

Retro man in the blue Hawaiian shirt opened his eyes and looked at the driver for a second and said. "I thought he was your friend?" Then Retro Man looked at Ranma funny and said. "Nice shirt."

Ranma looked down to see that he was wearing the same Hawaiian shirt as Retro Man, but instead of blue it had a red color scheme. "Whoa… We're like… Shirt buddies."

"That's kind of cool… So who's the guy?"

"I don't know." Ranma shook the driver awake and said, "Hey, who the hell are you?"

The man looked really confused and said. "You're not Mike. Aw man, did I take your car?"

Ranma looked out the windshield and pulled the visor down to block the sun. "This ain't my car."

Retro man shrugged. "It's not mine."

A three way "uh oh…" came out and they all vacated the car at unreal speeds. Upon a closer examination the car had been driven across an orchard and was now in a ditch looking like it was getting ready to flip over.

Ranma looked at the thing and asked. "Well whose car is it?" The other two stepped beside him, and then Ranma looked at the driven and then at their surroundings. "What the hell! We aren't even in Nerima any more! Where'd you take us?"

The driver shrugged. "All I remember is asking where Mike was and then going home."

Retro man heard something dripping and said. "What's that sound?"

Then Ranma smelled the air. "Smells like gas."

The driver had lit a smoke during this Scooby-Doo hunt and tossed his match towards the car. "Dudes! This IS Mike's car, but where's Mike?" Everything went quiet for a second and then the car exploded into rapidly moving flames and that's when it came back to Retro Man.

"Oh, yeah we were gonna light this thing on fire and do a hundred down the highway. We covered it in WD-40 remember?"

Ranma shook his head as they watched the burning inferno. "No, I don't remember."

"Dude! No way! Mike's gonna kill me man!"

Ranma started walking up the road and said, "I'm going to move away from the crime scene now…"

Retro man nodded and went in the other direction. "Yeah… Me too…"

Ranma turned around and said. "Hey! I didn't catch your name."

"The name's Tommy. You?"

"Ranma. Thanks for the wings last night… And for leaving my bum hole alone as I slept."

"No problem. See ya around kid."

Tommy ran down the street, while Ranma limped up it leaving the anonymous driver alone as the flames hit the gas tank and exploded. He fell to his knees and cried. "NOOOO! Mike's car! This fucking sucks! Now I'll never get that $10 he owes me!"

It was coming into the afternoon when Ranma found a nice old school banana seat bicycle up against the side of a little school and decided to take it for a spin. He needed to get to Nerima and it was the only thing available to him. Up until this point his hangover still hadn't gone away, but for some reason the fresh air was making him feel a little better. It would burn off eventually, but driving with a pair of shades on would have been so much better. As long as the bike ride lasted he was able to get some more thinking time in. He was wondering what every one was doing right now. Cleaning up his mess more then likely. The Amazon's were probably going to be close for two weeks after what Ranma had done. He started hoping that no one told Shampoo what he'd done, but Mousse was questionable. He'd forgive him if Mousse spilled the beans and told every one who's fault it was. 'Then again I did tell him to tell the police I did it.' That whiskey bottle he had before had done it's deeds to him and he was probably a little drunk when he did that. He couldn't remember any more and two nights ago was now just a bad drug induced dream.

Then Ranma's mind changed. 'If my night was that screwed up and if what the old man was saying is true, then I wonder what Ukyo's going through right now?' He came to a large sign on the side of the road and his face dropped as he read it. (Nerima: 43km) Ranma sighed and started peddling again. 'This is going to take forever…'

Almost an hour later a dirt bike went shooting by him while he was resting on the side of the road and he had a hunch. 'Not too many people travel that far on a dirt bike.' He decided to get back on and start peddling hard to make good time. Maybe there was a small community near by where he could jack a real ride. After pushing hard for about ten minutes he stumbled upon a small out of the way diner with a few old weather stained cars and buddies dirt bike in the parking lot. Ranma smiled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He was hungry and he needed a ride.

The place defined a greasy spoon restaurant all in itself. The place was dirty, filled with old guys, bugs ran across the floor, the serving lady was really nice and really plump, and the food was all deep-fried and unbelievably good. A massive burger with a plate of fries and an enormous mug of beer for cheap sat in front of him and there was a big tip coming someone's way. He sat there thinking about all those times he and Hikori had come to these kinds of places to talk about how they were going to pull off a job. Little plans were drawn out on the table using the cups and napkin dispensers as building, and for some reason the saltshaker was always what they were after. The knife neither of them used was made into a pointer to draw out the imaginary streets while the little single serving container of peanut butter was portrait as their getaway car. It was always serious then but now it just seemed funny. Hikori would always get so far into it that he looked like a child playing with toys while Ranma sat there stunned at the story he was telling.

Ranma took a sip from his mug for Hikori and asked for his bill. The large lady commented on his nice shirt and placed a mint on top of the bill. He left the money on the table along with a tip and went outside. The parking lot was off to the side of the building where windows couldn't see and there was that lovely kick-start dirt bike he saw. Ranma put the banana seat bike in the dirt bikes place and took off down the road towards home sweet home. Whoever owned the dirt bike was smart because he'd duck tapped a single speaker radio between the handlebars that ran right off the bike motor. No batteries no problem. He turned the switch on and listened to the crappy station no one in the world knew about. It was some bad jazz station but Ranma couldn't help but nod to the beat of it. It took his mind off the long road ahead and made the trip seem short.

He'd never driven along a winding road all alone before and it felt kind of nice. The scenic route reminded him a little about growing up with his old man. On the road with a backpack on your shoulders and not much else to worry about except maybe food, but it was easy to come by if you knew how. Ranma started thinking about going back to the whole wondering life style and then he thought about something that almost knocked him right off his seat. "Holy crap! Pops was a mediocre dad!" That single thought had just skewed his entire perception of his father. He'd always thought of him as some cowardly half-wit that couldn't tell his ass from his elbows, but now it was something of an average outlook. He couldn't shake the thought off until he finally got back to town and pulled the bike over to think about what he was going to do next. Then another thought came to mind. 'I guess if I didn't care then I wouldn't have come back here without thinking…' Ranma sighed again until he accepted that the dirty old man was right. He pulled the gas a little and thought. 'I guess I should go hear what they've got to say… I guess I should find Akane…'

Ranma made a quick pass by Nabiki's place but he kept his distance. The area was closed off and there was a chalk line where her ex had been. He didn't want to attract any attention so he just kept moving. He didn't know where to look for Akane and she wouldn't be listed in the phone book for safety reasons. He needed some one that could tell him and the only ones he could think about were the other couple Tendo's just a few blocks away. When he got there he'd forgotten that he was officially dead and didn't think when he knocked on the door. A few moments later Kasumi opened the door and screamed. "Huh?"

"What is it Kasumi?"

"Ghost!"

Ranma stepped in and tried to calm down Kasumi. "Hey! Listen I'm ali-." Ranma was creamed across the head with a baseball bat from Soun and Ranma laid on the floor trying to shake it off.

"Who are you? Stay away from my daughter!"

Ranma rolled over and looked up at them with squinted eyes, a frown and a hand against his head. "Hell of a swing you got there Mr. Tendo… I think you broke something."

Soun's hair almost stood up on end and went down beside Ranma. "Good lord! You're alive my boy! How can this be?"

Ranma wanted to cry, the bat really hurt. "I need an ice pack…"

"Kasumi quick!" She shuffled off and Soun started asking questions. "Can you walk boy? Are you hurt?"

"Just drag me to the couch… I can't stand up."

Soun saw the condition of Ranma's legs and almost yelled. "I think we'll call an ambulance. This looks horrible."

Ranma shook his head and got up the best he could. "No! No medics and whoa!" Ranma tripped over his own feet and managed to knock a picture off the wall in his dazed state. "Sorry."

It took a while to get Ranma to the couch but when he was on it he was starting to feel better. "Oh, god… You officially put an end to a relatively good day Mr. Tendo…"

"I'm sorry my boy. When I heard Kasumi scream I thought the worst."

"I guessed as much…" Ranma still had that look on his face like he wanted to cry but he held it in.

"If there's any thing I can do-."

"No, no. Don't worry about it. I'm tough."

Kasumi was looking at Ranma's leg and said. "Oh, my! What happened to you?"

"Just got into a little scrap I'll be fine, I just came here to ask you guys something."

Soun wasn't ready to answer questions; it was quite the opposite. "Where have you been Ranma? Every one thinks you're dead."

Ranma held the ice pack to his head and propped himself up. "I've been with Cologne at her club. Recovering from being shot and all."

Kasumi was confused. "But… You had a funeral…"

"You buried the wrong guy. Pops said it was me so I could have some healing time."

"W-why would he lie?"

"It's complicated Kasumi but I'm in a bad situation right now. Thankfully Dr. tofu patched me up, so I'm ok now."

Soun had to ask the question for Kasumi. "He's alright?"

"Yeah, he's in sort of the same position I'm in right now, but he's doing ok."

Kasumi became worried. "He isn't hurt is he?"

"No, he's doing fine. But please guys I need your help. I need to find Akane."

"Oh, she's not here right now."

Ranma thought about that for a second. "Wait, what does that mean?"

Soun filled Ranma in with an update. "She's been living with us for a while. She won't say where she's been though."

Ranma sunk into the couch. "Oh, thank god I don't have to keep looking. That hit took it all out of me."

"I'm sorry my boy."

"I would have been mad if you did it a second time. Don't worry about it. So when's she getting back?"

Soun scratched his head and shrugged. "She's got a job with shaky hours and a mind of her own. I'm just happy that she comes home."

"Mind if I stay for a while then?"

"Certainly. Oh! Would you like me to call your parents down here?"

Ranma waved his head and hands wildly. "No! I'll see them later. I can only deal with so many people at a time right now."

A couple hours passed and Ranma started filling in the two Tendo's about what had been going on. They had heard that Ryouga had shot him but they didn't believe it till he opened his shirt. Kasumi patched him up with caring hands and he was feeling a lot better after the throbbing in his head stopped. After they all talked for a while keys could be heard rattling at the door and then to sound of a sturdy deadbolt sliding back. Ranma heard Akane's voice as she entered the door and he got a lump in his throat. "Hi guys, I'm home. I picked us up some food." There was a point in the entranceway that you could see a little bit into the living room and right into the kitchen. She passed by with a quick glance and kept walking into the kitchen to place her groceries in, but she stopped and took a step back when something out of place caught her eye. She leaned back and looked back into the living room where she saw Ranma laying on the couch all bandaged up and giving her a quick wave. After that the bags dropped and she stood there staring to make sure it wasn't a hallucination.

Soun pulled Kasumi's arm and said. "I think they'll want to be alone for a few minutes."

Kasumi nodded and they left the room and Akane just kept staring. Ranma was becoming uncomfortable so he broke the silence. "So uh… How ya been?"

After he spoke to her she knew he was real and her eyes watered up and then she dashed towards him. She practically jumped on him and held him close. No words came out of her mouth just the sounds of a strong woman crying. He returned the hug and waited for her to let go. She pulled back to look at his face and sketched a gentle finger across all the scratches and cuts she saw. "Ranma…?"

"Yeah, I'm alive."

She held him tight again and started sniffing. "I thought you were dead…"

"I know…"

"I'm so sorry about Sheela…"

Ranma felt another gut jab with that one and the lump in his throat became just a little bigger. "It's not your fault Akane. You couldn't help what happened… It's my fault ok?"

She put her face against his shoulder and soaked it with tears. She hit his chest lightly causing him to jerk a little. She felt him do that and had to know why. She opened his shirt to see a bunch of sewed holes in him and couldn't help by cry harder. "He did shoot you… I didn't want to believe it…" She hit his shoulder hard, and held onto him tight. "Why didn't you tell me sooner you big jerk…? Why didn't you tell me you were alive…?"

Ranma thought about that for a little while and he could only think of one reason. "Because I'm selfish jerk Akane…" Then that lump went right up to his eyes. "I'm sorry…" And there he was again. Crying in the arms of a woman he'd given the cold shoulder to. In his mind he was begging for forgiveness and begging for time to rewind and go back so he could correct everything. He knew none of his pleas would be answered and he knew she'd be dead forever. So all he could do now was hold onto what he had left and listen to every one he'd turned away from. He couldn't help but cry with her and as they cried the pain started to wash away. The one thing Ranma hated though was the thought that the dirty old bastard was right. He needed every one and they needed him.

-

-

(Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy: There's a nice little break from the violence and regardless of what any one says, Jamiroquai kicks ass. If you liked this chapter then the next one's gonna knock your socks off.)


	16. Knocking on Heavens Door

Knocking on Heavens Door

Akane sat there holding Ranma tight, so glad that he was all right. Her tears ran long and her heart relieved itself of the strain it had faced alone. He held her close to let her know he'd be there for her now and keep her under his wing. He wouldn't let Jasper near her or anyone else for that matter; it would go back to how it was before. He'd just go out and save the day as always and come one step closer to Akane's love. It may have been a fantasy of the moment but it was a sweet one nonetheless. He needed to hear her voice, and listen to it so as not to forget it again. "So how've ya been?"

Akane didn't let him go and kept his ear close to her lips. "Not too well…"

"Sorry to worry you. I've only been out of bed for a couple days now… I've been doing some bad things…"

"I'm sure it's nothing serious…"

It was optimism that was bound to crash and burn. Maybe she didn't watch the news, or maybe she just hadn't made the connection yet. Either way she was going to know and it was going to hit her heavy. "It's pretty serious. I haven't been myself lately, just an angry guy hanging around bad people."

Akane went a little silent and the way she clung to him told him that she knew something he didn't want her to know and now she was acting like his security blanket. "I saw the news last night… They were raving and ranting about the Hurricane coming in for a second hit on the city…"

Ranma needed to change the subject but any attempt pretty much failed. "I don't know who gave me that name. It's stupid."

"A shooting at Cologne's club was all over the T.V…" Ranma started to wince but was caught in his guilt. "A detective reported that the Kyoto Hurricane showed up at his home, threatened his family and took him hostage…" Ranma owed someone an impossible apology. "A man was murdered outside of Nabiki's place and a homeless man was found close by beaten and on the verge of death when the ambulance got there." Ranma had almost forgotten the bum and he started shaking. "Then there was a police chase on the highway with a lunatic… five policemen were killed and he got away…" Ranma was caught and by the last person he wanted to be caught by. He hadn't come to her for this but here it was. "…It was you wasn't it…?"

He couldn't say anything. He was stuck in her arms and for once he wanted out as fast as he could. "I…" He couldn't say anything. What could he say? I'm sorry I'm a homicidal maniac. It was an accident. Blame Ryouga for being unstable. There were a boatload of excuses, but in the long run that's all they were. Excuses. He went crazy in front of the entire world for kicks and it only showed them one thing, and it was that he was crazy. There was nothing he could do for those people, but in truth most on them would have shot him dead if they had the chance and there was the conflict in Ranma's mind right there. It was kill or be killed. Get crazy or get dead. How was he suppose to explain this to her? How was he going to explain that he'd purposely messed himself up to get by for one night? She'd never have any respect for him ever again. She knew what he was capable of now and she'd only ever remember that old Ranma that called her a tomboy, which secretly meant that he loved her. He was now this new psychopath that killed any one that stepped in front of him and his goals. He'd become the monster that haunted dreams including hers and especially his own.

Then she asked him something he wasn't expecting. "Is Nabiki ok?" There it was and the old man was right again. The world didn't revolve around Ranma and the world's light certainly didn't shine directly out of his ass. "I don't care what you've done… You had your reasons… I can forgive you for everything if you tell me my sister's ok."

What a bountiful angle… "She's fine… I got mad at her, but I didn't hit her. Her boyfriend was beating her up so I knocked him around. I got carried away later on and I couldn't think. I was messed up on drugs and-." He started rambling and tried so hard to use those excuses he'd thought up, but she hushed him up and stopped him in his quest of forgiveness. A single finger touched his lips and the angle tightened around his shoulders.

"I forgive you… I know why you did it and… I forgive you…"

That was all he needed to go on. He'd found someone that looked him in the eye, saw what he was, and forgave him. It was beautiful and almost poetic at the same time. He ended up spending the night there on the couch and Akane slept on the other one to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Maybe they should have shared a bed, but Ranma still had to make peace with someone he'd been neglecting lately. He needed to go visit a grave and let it all out for her. He needed to confess his guilt and needed some one to tell him it was going to be all right.

Then the morning came with breakfast and a plan. They all asked him what he was going to do when he went through that door and he gave them the best answer he could. "I'm going to go do Ryouga's job, and after that I'm going to go visit her grave." When he said Ryouga's job they all knew what he meant. Every one knew where Ukyo was and how she ended up there and Ranma was going to change that.

First he found Shampoo's house and had a word with her. He had to apologize for what he'd done and also he needed Dr. Tofu as soon as possible. "Are you ok Ranma? No one knew where you went yesterday and we all got worried."

"Don't worry about me… Sorry about what I did… I'm sure you… Well…"

Shampoo was silent for a little bit but a small half smile had its way to her lips "Those bastards were with the guy that took my baby right?"

Ranma nodded with a shrug. He didn't know for sure but he was willing to bet money on it. They were more glory seekers looking for a reward then anything else. "Yeah…"

"Don't apologize then… Just stay alive and keep fighting…"

Ranma knew he could keep fighting, however it was the part about staying alive he wasn't too sure about. All he could do was live in the present and hope for the best. "Ok… I'll do it for you… Listen, I need a big favor…"

"Anything." After that little scene he walked to a flower shop he'd been to before to ask for another favor.

"Hey Bugsy. How've ya been?"

The large guy behind the counter dropped his newspaper to see Ranma and let out a quick laugh. "Well it's about time you came around. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

Ranma walked in and took a quick glance at some blue roses on a table to his right. "That's just wishful thinking on my end. You don't seem too surprised to see me."

"Well I don't mean to brag but I did spring a hefty amount of money to get you patched up my friend."

Ranma scratched his head knowing there was a payback coming up soon, and said. "Thanks, I guess."

"Hey, you saved my best friend's life. It's only proper for me to help you in return."

"Jerry, huh… How's she doing?"

"His arm's still got a bit of healing to do, but he's doing fine. Sorry to say, but he got a little more attention then you did. Money talks."

"Yeah I guess so… Anyways I came here for a favor."

Bugsy leaned back in his seat and let a smug grin hit his lips. "Already taking advantage of my generosity?"

Ranma passed him a smile. "Yeah. I'm going to need a gun or two. I dropped all mine."

Bugsy reached under his counter and after the sound of tape ripping he put a couple of small handguns on the table. "I'm not exactly a weapon's dealer but this is the best I can do for you on the spot."

"I just need a little protection. Gotta save lives and all that nonsense."

Bugsy liked that statement. "Well, who are you saving? Or is it none of my business?"

Ranma picked at a flower for no real reason and said. "Can you keep a secret?"

"My lips are sealed until someone comes to me with a high offer."

Seemed good enough for Ranma. "I'm grabbing an old friend from the hospital."

"Oh, that girl. I've heard some bad things about her. The doctor looking after her is keeping her drugged up or something. Well, can't say I won't be happy to see her out of there."

"Should I be worried about going there alone?"

"Nah. After what you did a couple nights ago, I think you'll do just fine. Just don't pull any heroics. Go in and come out. There should be a guy in her room to make sure that Ryouga kid doesn't pull anything, but I wouldn't worry, I hear he's kind of slow."

"Guess no one will be expecting me then. I've got my doctor waiting for me to pick up Ukyo."

"Good to see you got a plan. Anyways, good luck with it and visiting hours should be pretty soon, so just stay inconspicuous."

"I Knew I could count on you Bugsy. Thanks for the guns."

As Ranma was on his way out Bugsy said, "No problem. By the way kid. Nice shirt."

"Thanks."

Walk in and walk out. He remembered this plan and exactly how it turned out before. Jasper knew he was alive, so Ranma needed to be cautious. Bugsy was once again proving to be a reliable source of information, and he couldn't help but feel some sort of debt being built as he walked, but he'd worry about that later. What he needed immediately was a better plan then to just walk in and walk out. He needed a disguise and a good one at that, so what better to go through a hospital as then a doctor?

He took the long rout there to figure out what he was going to do, but it came to him half way. He remembered passing by a few years back and seeing a couple of guy out back having a smoke, or coffee, or something like that. Either way it was his way in and hopefully there'd be someone out there alone. Time passed and no one was around, so he waited for a little while. Eventually two guys came out chatting up a storm and saying something about a cutie up in room 209. Long red hair, big jugs, all that other wonderful stuff, and now Ranma had another idea. They'll identify a man going in, but never leaving.

Ranma walked around the corner to a bus stop he'd passed by with a vending machine set up. He was pained by having to fork out money for water, but it couldn't be helped. He held onto the bottle and walked back to where the guys were talking and interrupted them. "Hey, I'm going to need your clothes."

One of them said, "Wha-" And Ranma socked him with a hard hit across the jaw. The other was getting ready to turn tail and run, but Ranma grabbed him, whacked the guys head with his trusty new gun and landing him in a trash can upside-down.

The other doctor was crawling away but Ranma grabbed the back of his coat. "Sorry, man. It's nothing personal." He got the guy to his feet, removed his glasses for him and knocked him out with a single head butt. He opened the bottle and got wet, but then she noticed something. "Awe crap…" Ranma put the smaller one in the trash. "Why do I got to be so damn short…?"

She changed clothes anyways and hoped that large white coat would cover the baggy clothes. She walked in through the door and started walking around like she owned the place. The painted arrows along the hallways showed her the way towards the reception desk. Before she got there she grabbed a clipboard from off a cart to look important and found an old lady reading a magazine at a desk and asked politely. "Hello, I'm new here and I'm a little lost…"

The old woman put the issue down and smiled at her. "Oh, hasn't Dr. Hans shown you around yet?"

Ranma had this lie covered. "Yeah, but it's a lot bigger then the last place I was at. It was just a small building back in China."

"Oh, I see. Well what are you looking for dear?"

"I was told to check on a coma patient named, Ukyo Kuonji."

The old woman started pecking at a computer and said, "Ok… She should be in room 432 on the fourth floor. If you get lost then don't be shy to ask, ok dear?"

"Thanks for your help." Ranma did the standard Japanese woman bow and found an elevator. 'I hate acting like a chick…' When it opened there was a man already in it and he was going up, however his eyes were going down as he smiled. As Ranma stepped in he flashed his white teeth and perfect hair at Ranma and the doors slowly slid closed. "Touch me and I'll force feed your own cock through your goddamn eyeballs."

"Awe c'mon, give me a chance. You don't even know me yet."

As the doors slid open on the fourth floor, any one caring to look would have seen a man laying down and moaning while holding his crotch in pain. "It was nice talking to you Steve." And Ranma stepped out.

"Ow… My pride…" And the doors closed on Steve.

Ranma walked down the hallway following the arrows like she'd done before. She waved to some doctors and they nodded back. She was a doctor to everyone now and she was about to save a life. A small smile went across her face as she stepped down the hall and towards the patient rooms. Ukyo had her own spot between an old guy and a kid with tubes in him. She was about to knock, but after a moments thought, she knew it was pointless. She pushed the handle down and opened the door to see Ukyo lying in a bed with tubes in her mouth, flowers at her side and on the other side of the room was a man looking at Ranma with question in his eyes. Ranma assumed authority and asked the questions before the man could. "Are you a visitor?"

The man looked a little baffled and it was clear he wasn't too smart. "Uh… Sort of… I'm here to make sure she doesn't um… Uh…"

"Oh, are you a nurse?"

In truth the man had no reason to lie, he just had to say he was here on business, or something to that degree, but he must have been new to the job because his eyes raced around and he did his best to lie. "Y-yeah! Uh… Are you new here? I haven't seen you before."

Ranma walked over to him and put out her hand for a shake. "Oh, then in that case I'm Dr. Ackamenallashoosheehabodaris. I just transferred here from Hell's Point hospital in China. How do you do?"

He took her hand and said. "I'm uhh… Nurse Larry. A pleasure to meet you Dr… uh…"

"Ackamenallashoosheehabodaris."

"Uh… yeah…"

"So Nurse Larry, before Dr. Hans comes here to check on me can you tell me a little about this patient. What are her symptoms?"

Larry had been baited into a trap and Ranma was laughing in her head. "She's uhh… She's… in a coma."

"Fascinating…" Ranma wrote something down on her clipboard and started rustling through pages. "May I ask which doctor is taking care of her. It doesn't seem to say here…"

Larry knew this answer and gave the information with a smile and a sense of superiority in his voice. "That would be Dr. Petersburg! Yeah!"

Ranma wrote down the name and asked her next question. "Ok, so have you been cleaning out her bed pan properly?"

Larry looked confused and asked. "B-bed pan?"

"Yeah, it's under the bed. You HAVE been cleaning it have you?"

"Umm…"

Ranma shook her head. "Well, lets see it. This is very unprofessional if I do say so myself…"

Larry sucked into the moment went under the bed and got the bedpan out for inspection. "Oh, dear… Look how dusty this thing is…" Larry looked like a baboon trying to figure out how a rocket engine worked and couldn't say much but look closely at it. That's when Ranma pulled it back and cracked him across the face with it and a loud clang followed. "Fucking idiot…"

Ranma tied up Larry to a chair and knocked it over behind the bed before any one could see and then she waited for a few minutes. 'Is there any one else…?' Ranma waited patiently for about ten minutes, but she gave it up and then realized something. She had no clue how to detach Ukyo without killing her. She let out a breath and turned on the T.V in the room until she could think of a way out of this. Every so often Larry would half wake up, but Ranma just kept sending him back to dream land with a sound strike from the pan. It was the only real relief from the damn beeping that came every ten seconds for her and she knew that all the other guys got out of this watch job because of it. About an hour of pointless T.V passed and Ranma was stumped, until she heard the sound of the door opening.

A doctor stepped in with a little white box and a fresh I.V drip and saw her sitting on the side of the bed with a remote in her hand. "I hope this isn't a regular break spot for you… Hey, where's Larry?"

The answer he received was a bedpan flying at him and hitting him right in the teeth. She jumped at him and pulled him to the floor placing a bundled up part of Ukyo's blanket in his mouth to shut him up. She took a peak into the box to see various needles and other little accessories meant for mixing something up. The picture was clearing up with out having to ask too many questions. When he finally stopped whining she asked him if he was Dr. Petersburg and when he nodded, all hell broke loose. She pulled him behind the bed and pushed him to where Larry was laying. She pulled out an easily concealed gun and pointed it between his eyes. "You're going to do something for me Doctor and I don't give two shits what you think about it."

Petersburg put his hands up above his wide eyes and asked. "W-what do you want."

Ranma nudged her head towards the bed and said. "Her. I'm taking her out of here and you're going to unhook her."

"I-it's not that easy… You need more then one person to do it and even if you do get her out, she'll need that stuff to stay alive."

Ranma flinched. She couldn't tell if the doctor was lying or not, and this was something she couldn't risk, but then she thought about it for a second. "It takes a bunch of people huh?"

"Y-yeah… L-look lady, I'm just doing what I was told to do. It's not about the money I swear! My life's on the line too! No one says no to Jasper. I didn't have a choice and I can't do anything for you. Please, just go and I won't call the cops. I'm just doing this to get by."

"Untie Larry."

"Huh?"

"Untie Larry." The doctor did so and he couldn't understand. Was it a way of giving up? Was she going to leave him alone? "Stand up and put your hands together."

Petersburg did so and couldn't figure out what she was doing. "O-ok…"

"Put them above your head as high as you can reach and keep them together." He did so and he didn't like where this was going. "I hope your doctor is more honest then you are." His eyes went wide and the gun aimed up fast and before he could move there was the sound of a shot and when it was over he had two big holes in the center of his hands. He started screaming and that's when people started flooding in. Ranma threw the gun at Larry and beat him in the face with a bedpan just as every one came in. "Larry went nuts! We have to get Petersburg and the patient out of here now! We're transferring her over to the clinic up in Waldon Crest and we're getting him sedated with heavy painkillers down in room 209 ASAP. Get to it people!"

Ranma's orders were convincing and she sounded like she'd been there for years. They all responded to her calls and soon Ukyo was hooked up to a temporary machine meant to go into an ambulance. She ran down the halls with the doctors and one asked if she was ok, with her limp. She said she rolled her ankle but the patient was more important. It was speed records being broken left right and center with all the doctors hurrying with getting Ukyo into the back of an ambulance and Ranma followed. A paramedic jumped in with her but she shooed him out and told him to go see to Petersburg. He didn't argue and they were off in no time flat. At about three blocks away Ranma climbed up front and threw the driver right out of the van. She pulled a turn and started heading her own way with victory in sight. "We're almost home free Ukyo. We're almost there." Ranma repeated it a few times and turned off the sirens for a slower speed. She wasn't heading for Waldon Crest, but for Shampoo's place in the opposite direction.

She reached up to adjust the rear view mirror to get a better look at Ukyo, and saw her sleeping with out expression. She didn't know what was happening, what had happened, or who was there. It was easy to get her out, but Ranma didn't want to break the news for how long she'd been zonked out for. A closer look in the mirror showed how thin Ukyo was. Her face looked fragile at best and her skin was pale. Her figure almost looked like Ranma's, however Ranma had the luxury of eating while Ukyo had an I.V drip, feeding her all she needed. It was going to take her a while to recover that was for sure. Then terror struck Ranma's mind. What had they put her on to keep her out of it? Was there going to be damage? A hidden addiction? Was she just a damn vegetable now? Had Ranma waited too long to help her?

Her foot pushed down on the gas a little harder and she needed to hear from the doctor if she was going to be ok. Ranma couldn't lose his childhood friend. Not in a million years if he had anything to say about it. She pulled the van up close to the back gate where Tofu was waiting and Ranma jump out of the ambulance to help with the unloading. When she got to the back Ukyo was already off and surrounded by Tofu and other men taking her pulse and other things Ranma couldn't figure out. "Who're these guys?"

Tofu waved for them to go inside and explained. "Bugsy sent these guys over to help."

"You know Bugsy…? Of coarse you know Bugsy."

"Yeah. Ukyo will be fine with us for now, so be patient while we wake her up."

Ranma didn't like the idea of waiting but it couldn't be helped. "Fine…"

"Trust me ok? I'll give you a call when she's up." Tofu handed Ranma a cell phone, and said. "You haven't paid your respects yet have you?" Ranma knew what he meant and shook her head. "Then I think you should go visit the grave… You're friend said he'd wait for you there."

"My friend?"

"Bugsy said he'd be there waiting for you. He didn't say much else. Come in and get cleaned up first thought. You don't want to go looking like that."

Ranma started walking into the house and pulled out the clothes she had bundled up inside her coat. "I don't think she'd care much, but…" Ranma's voice trailed off and when he was changed back and ready to go, he grabbed fashionable cane from Cologne's collection and started walking on alone.

Ranma couldn't remember when walking had taken so much out on him. It was his weakness along with his wounded legs that held him back from what he'd been before. Ever since he was shot down, he'd become just some guy, another face in the crowed. He wasn't special anymore with cool tricks up his sleeves and special attacks he could use to do away any one with. Ranma almost tripped and put a hand against a wall for support. No… It happened long before he was shot down. He'd just given up on it all and decided to have fun with every one else. Sure he could still remember how to do those fancy flips, kicks, and punches, but it was the will to do so that was no longer there. It took a tight situation and a burst of adrenaline to do what he used to do in an everyday light training. He'd become this pathetic version of himself that couldn't hold his own with out a couple of guns at his side. The only thing that was really left of himself was that toughness he'd gotten from getting up with a bloody lip and winning against all odds. Even now with his legs killing him he went on as if nothing was wrong and he'd get to where he needed to be if it killed him to do so. He knew in the back of his mind like he'd always known that scraped knees mean jack squat in the long run, it was all about making damn sure you came out on top with every one beside you.

The graveyard was coming into sight and Ranma started to pick up his pace. After he got a good step happening he picked it up again and turned it into a light jog. It hurt him, but the pain was good. It told him that he was alive and it was because of them. His jog turned into a run and his run turned into a sprint. His legs wanted to quit on him but he wouldn't allow it. He kept pushing himself harder so as not to keep her waiting any longer. Even if it was a mound of dirt with a box under it he needed to say he was sorry, and he needed to tell her he had to move on, even if it was without her. When he got to the gates he almost collapsed, but managed to hold himself up with a hand clasped around an iron bar. He caught his breath and walked in looking around trying to figure where she'd been buried. He walked around until he saw a man crouched in front of a stone slab doing something to it. He looked familiar, but Ranma couldn't place him from behind. It must have been instinct, but Ranma asked the man with out knowing why. "What're you doing?" When the man turned around Ranma saw a face he didn't want to see. "Willis? What the hell are you doing here?"

The detective stood up with a piece of chalk in his hand and pointed down at the stone. "Just fixing a mistake…"

Ranma started looking around and ask. "Should I be worried?"

Willis shrugged. "That's entirely up to you."

Ranma didn't feel like a fight, so he looked down at the gravestone. On it the name Jane Doe had been crossed out and replaced with Sheela. "You came here for that? Why do you care?"

The detective took a seat on the grass and looked at the stone with empty eyes. "Thought I'd just make sure every one knew her name… Old guys like me are like that you know? Can't leave the past alone until we've prodded it to no end. How about you? Why are you here?"

The calm the detective was under was unnerving for Ranma but he took a seat on the grass as well, knowing he couldn't run away from bullets right now. "Me…" Ranma took in a breath and thought about it for a second. "I guess for the same reason… I told her I loved her… Put a ring on her finger and then she was gone… Trying to save my sorry ass…"

"It worked didn't it?"

Ranma shook his head. "Worked or not, I'd do anything to trade places with her. I've had over a month to coupe with it, but… Awe hell, why am I telling you? Some one tipped you off and you've got your buddies here for an arrest."

"I'm off duty right now…"

"You're dedicated."

"I'm off duty till I get my head back on my shoulders."

Ranma had an idea at what the detective was getting at. "Did I give you a scare? Sorry, I was really screwed up at the time."

Willis shrugged. "Nah. I'm stressed about losing my niece. They wouldn't let me anywhere near the scene and all I got were a few photos. I think dirty cops were all over it… I got a glimpse here and there, but I was never allowed to identify the body… After you said her name I knew right then it was her…" Ranma's eyes opened wide and he was now sitting in front of Sheela's emotionally unstable uncle. "I still haven't told my brother, or his wife, or mine for that matter… I have to tell them don't I? Or should I just keep my mouth shut and give them hope that she's still out there, alive and doing well?" Willis paused for a moment and looked at Ranma with an unknowing look. "What should I do?"

Ranma was finding it hard to answer questions again, but this time he had an idea. "I wouldn't know what to do either. Any one could say go on and tell them, but shit… I don't know either. All I can do is keep going on an kill the bastard that killed her." Ranma had that lump in his throat again and he was finding it hard to talk. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her… But I swear to god I'll pay them back for this." He started thinking about all those moments they made each other happy. All those times they made love and shared victory. Ranma's head sank down and he started to cry. "I swear to god I'll get them for you Sheela…" His tears hit the ground and touched the soil she was beneath. "I'm sorry…" His voice came out jagged and he couldn't keep himself straight. A hand touched his shoulder and it was the detective offering comfort.

"We'll get through this kid… It may be too late, but at least I know she was with a caring guy…"

Another hand touched his shoulder and when he looked up it was the friend that was waiting for him. "You're alive…"

Hikori took a seat beside Ranma and he gave him a smile. "A bullet can't keep me down. I'm angry with you though. It took you long enough to get here." Hikori hit Ranma's shoulder and looked hard at the stone. "Hey, chin up man. We'll get those guys. All of us."

Ranma turned his head when he heard footsteps and saw all his friends there coming to offer a prayer. Akane came first and sat on his other side. He smiled through his tears and landed her a hug. "Thanks…"

"You can't do everything alone Ranma… She tried to save me to remember?"

"Yeah…" Next came Bugsy with some flowers, Jerry limping with a cane and Kuno dressed all formal beside her. They didn't say much but they stood behind him in front of the grave. "Hey guys… Kuno?"

"Tis sad to hear of your loved one… I offer any aid I can."

Behind them were Ranma's parents as well as Soun and Nabiki. "Mom? Dad?" Genma was wearing a strange glove and it was probably from the thrashing he'd given him.

His mom went to her knees and pulled her son towards her. "Thanks god you're alive… Why didn't you come to me sooner?" Her eyes watered with his and she held him looking at the grave. "Are you ok…?"

Ranma held her arm and rubbed it. "Sort of…" He looked up at his dad and then had his hand. "How's the hand?"

Genma was still unhappy but at least his answer told him a lot more then it told others. "It's a… Reminder."

Soun stood beside his friend and Nabiki came close to Ranma. She tapped him on the head and said. "I don't remember you looking so unhappy… Thanks for getting me away from that guy…"

"Sorry I was a dick… Where's Kasumi?"

"She had a few things to do."

"Oh…"

The Amazons came in next and they all looked grim. With them was the old man and even he offered a few words of prayer. Shampoo kneeled down behind Ranma and grabbed his attention. "Don't give up yet, ok? Keep fighting for us."

Ranma held her hand tight and nodded. As usual Mousse wasn't happy to see Ranma but he behaved. "Stop getting beaten up ok? You're worrying us."

Cologne offered a few items and burned some incense filling the air with a sweat perfume. Ranma put eyes back on the grave and after a while he just broke down. His closest friends all touched him as he sat there crying his guts out. He couldn't pray for her, or ask forgiveness. If she were alive she'd just shrug it off and tell him not to worry so much. She forgave him for not being there for her, but he didn't forgive himself. There was no way to make any of this right, the best he could do now was patch up the wound and hope the scar would be feint. The sun shined down on them all and he was the only one crying. The tears were easy to get rid of, but the memory would never run dry. It was time to get up and start fighting the real fight. It was time to stop pissing around in bars looking for a good brawl, and look for Ryouga and Jasper. It was all he could do and it was the best any one could do now.

The wind picked up momentarily and when it stopped ever one heard a man clear his throat. They all turned except for Ranma. It was a man in a black suit with a lot of guys with him. "I'm sorry to break up the party here, but I'm here to collect Mr. Soatome. Step away from him now and Jasper promises to leave you all alone."

Ranma was getting pissed as he heard that name spoken. This ground was sacred and they came baring that name. Jasper. The one that made ever one's life hell. The one that made Ryouga kill Sheela. The one that tore Shampoo's baby from her stomach. That sick twisted son of a bitch. Ranma's tone was violent when he spoke and it made some men step back. "You… You come here and demand me to come with you…? It's sickening…"

The leader of the pack had his cool air around him like he'd already won. "Just come quietly and we won't kill every one here. Don't make it hard on them Mr. Soatome."

It was that line that made Ranma twist with lightning speed and pull out two handguns. It was to his surprise that ever one there did the same. Kuno was at the bottom of the chain with his kendo stick and just above him was Nabiki standing in the back with a 9mm held in both hands with an icy look in her eyes. The two masters were on either side ready for action and working their way in were Soun and Genma with their useless kung fu and Nodoka with a new yet smaller six-shooter. Mousse had shotgun handing out of both side of his sleeves amd handed Shampoo something that would normally be used to shoot down an aircraft. Even the detective had his piece out and ready to defend the ground these bastards were intruding upon. Bugsy and Jerry had their own sort of flare. Bugsy had his flowers held like something big an heavy sort of like a tommy gun, while Jerry kicked her cane up causing it to split in half and open up into a double barrel shot gun she held with one hand. Hikori had an SMG ready for action and it had fifty rounds that could easily run faster then any one there.

Nabiki told Ranma all he needed to know. "These better have been a good investment Ranma."

Akane had something of her own and it was automatic, but Ranma put a hand against it and pushed it down. "Don't do what I've done…" He turned her safety on and stepped forward. Most of the bad guys didn't have guns out, for they knew it was a losing battle. The fire in every one's eyes burned the very souls of the men in suits. "This is MY city and I'm taking over!" Spit practically flew from his mouth and he was about to play tag and the last one standing would be the one he squeezed info out of. Team Nerima was back in action and from the looks of it they were all willing to get their hands a little dirty. Jasper had pushed every one too far and they now had the will to fight back. They're leader had return and he'd lead them to Jasper as well as the fight of their life. Ranma was back and he was himself again with that angry eye and cocky look. No more crying was needed, just revenge.

The leader was shocked and looked right at Bugsy. "I thought you were going to back us up!"

Bugsy shrugged. "I said it was going to be a set up. I just didn't mention that it was going to be yours." Armed to the tooth with all his old friends, Ranma was now unbreakable and after he breathed in he took the first shot. And fury followed with him, sounding a lot like gunfire.

-

-

(Guns N' Roses – Knocking on Heavens Door: Yeah I know, I've used Guns N' Roses again but they've got so many good songs. Bob Dylan did the original, but that man cannot sing to save his life. I'll get another one up soon. See ya and party hard damnit!)


	17. Come As You Are

Come As You Are

Three days passed since the graveyard massacre, and Ranma was doing his lone wolf thing again. He was happy that his friends were there to help but in truth they didn't know a whole lot about the criminal world they so diligently leaped into. Akane was angry with him for turning her safety on, but when she didn't know how to turn it off it only proved to Ranma that she wasn't ready for it. She was now a criminal like him and an eyewitness to something that could be considered a mass murder. She wasn't in the position Ranma wanted her in and that made him angry. Ranma let Hikori deal with them for now, to help them with the ropes involved with holding the criminal world up. He needed a distraction from all the tempers fuming and decided to hunt down Ryouga.

Ranma got himself up to Old Maggie's ranch and had a look around. The light yellow paint was peeling off all over the place and the patches of lawn needed a lawnmower pronto. He walked up the creaking steps and found that the front door's lock had been kicked out. He pushed the door open and a musty smell hit his nose in no time. If any one had been living in there recently the smell wouldn't have been there. He stepped in anyways and found dusty footprints all over the place. In the living room were various chairs, tables and footstools all covered in clothes and bed sheets. In a few places he saw creases and dust wiped away from surfaces meaning some one had used them after the house had long been abandoned.

He started following the footsteps around for clues. He stepped in the prints exactly where they were and the fist place they lead was the bathroom. Ranma wasn't expecting to see dried up blood covering parts of the sink and floor, but what he was most interested in were the needles he saw in the trash. He didn't bother taking them out knowing already what they were used for. Some one had been shooting up to get high in here, but he still didn't know if it was Ryouga.

He started following the prints, but once he was upstairs the hardwood floor of the hallway seemed to have been stepped all over. Ranma started feeling a little uneasy and pulled out his gun to take the lead. It was strange that all the doors were closed, if some one had been using them, but Ranma briefly went into the simple mind of Ryouga and guessed that they were closed so he wouldn't get lost. Maybe it was nothing, but Ranma figured he's start with the room at the end and work his way back. It was a bedroom with a bed that'd been used.

Ranma started opening closets, but all he found were little metal hangers with nothing on them. Just before he went out something struck his mind and he went over to the bed. On the pillow there were a few strands of hair and with a keen eye he picked one up to have a look. The tip was dyed jet black; however lower down it was a dark brown. It wasn't enough to say it was Ryouga's, but hell Paul said he'd been here and some one had been, but what was with the needles? Was Ryouga that depressed? Probably. Ranma just couldn't see him shooting up though… Then again Ranma also couldn't see Ryouga shooting him five times in the chest, but it happened anyways, so at this point anything was possible.

Ranma pushed the next-door open with the tip of his gun and when he did a god-awful stink came out. Ranma coughed a couple times and pushed it all the way open. It was an empty room with drawings all over the walls. It wasn't anything too weird, but it looked like a five year old took crayons to ever inch of wall. Old Maggie did have grandkids; hopefully it wasn't Ryouga drawing it because that would just be creepy. However a foul fly infested offering from Ryouga was left in a corner of the room. He'd thrown up all over the place and another needle was on the floor. Maybe he wasn't shooting up… Maybe he was taking medicine… Who knew? If Ryouga was doing drugs then that meant he had a dealer and that dealer would be his fishing line, but if it was medicine then he'd need a doctor… or at least someone that dealt drugs legally. The smell started to get to him and he needed to get out before he did what Ryouga did.

The next-door lead to another bathroom but this one was clean except for the bathtub, which held a dirty condom near the drain hole. For the sake of science he took out his knife and lifted it up. He poked at a white substance in the tip and to his surprise it wasn't anything from a genetic jackhammer. It was somewhat solid and it had it's own baggy. He cut it open to find a white power come out, and being a recent user of the stuff he knew what it was and it wasn't baking soda. All Ranma could figure out was that Ryouga came here and had a hell of a party with himself. Now the question of if it was a celebration or an escape came to his mind, but why would it happen so suddenly? Maybe he had only one thing left to turn to…

Ranma shook the thought off and started heading down stairs again and that's when he heard something slam closed. Ranma took a step back upstairs and looked down through the railing. He heard footsteps coming in and Ranma's guns were coming out. He kept a close eye and saw some one's shadow come in and move out of his vision. The guy was sniffing and heading towards the kitchen. Ranma tip toed down the stairs put his back to the wall. Ranma peaked around the corner to see thin dark haired man with his back to Ranma, getting ready to drink out of a carton of milk. Then he noticed it. The bandana. Ranma took aim and said. "Hey asshole!" Then he shot the carton right out of the guy's hand and the man turned around scared, but to Ranma's annoyance it wasn't Ryouga.

"Narc!" The man reached into the fridge and threw a can of tomato paste at Ranma.

Ranma shot it out of the air and grabbed the guy by the shirt. "Who the hell are you?"

"Man! You ain't gonna hear shit from me you fucking narc!"

Ranma kicked the guy in the shin and when he bent down he slammed his head in the fridge door. "Do I look like a narc to you?"

The rubbed his head and said. "I don't know…"

"No, I don't. Now who the hell are you?"

"Hey man, I don't give my name to just any-" **SLAM** "Ow!"

"Fine." Ranma pulled the bandana off the guy's head and asked. "Where'd you get this?"

"I found it here man… Geez…"

"Oh, really? What else did you find?"

"Look man, you can't have any of-" SLAM "Ow!"

"What else did you find ya fucking squatter?"

"I found like fifty bucks and that was it." The man had a tear in his eye, his voice sounded depressed and his forehead was starting to get bruised, but Ranma didn't seem to care.

"When?" Ranma had the fridge door ready for another hit, but the guy was learning.

"Like a month ago. Every one used to come here to get high man."

"So all that shit I found upstairs…?"

"Nah! It ain't mine man. I clean up my mess. Fingerprints and all that shit man. They got blood tests and stuff now."

"How many people know about this place?"

"I don't know. Maybe a few kid man. Nobody comes around here anymore. The cops found a party up here once, now it's on a regular patrol man."

"So what the hell are you doing here?"

"I like left a six pack and my groceries in here the last time I was up man."

Ranma looked at the chunky milk splattered all over the grounds and said. "The six pack might be alright… I wouldn't recommend anything else though."

"Yeah, man this thing ain't even working. Whoa! You like saved my life man!"

"Don't sound so happy, I was actually aiming for your head."

"Oh…"

Ranma was done playing CSI: Nerima and decided to leave the junkie alone. Ryouga was there for sure, but any solid traces of him or where he'd be now were gone. All he had was a damn bandana that didn't help him in any way and a few questionable needles he didn't feel like picking up. On the way to his car he ran over and took a quick look around in the barn behind the house, but there wasn't anything there either. Everything today was a dead end. All he really did was find out that Paul was right. Ranma turned the car around and left, with small thoughts of what he'd do next. It was up in the air right now, but in the time Ranma was out of the picture Hikori got to work right away. He'd dug up information on what big businesses Jasper owned as well as all the small time crap that'd been going on. A lot of Jasper's places had the same idea of what Bugsy had with his flower shop. Hide out in the open and use something stupid as a cover up. Grocery stores, bakeries, fruit stands, shipping companies, and even cigarette manufacturing were used as covers. After Ranma had heard some names of places, he could honestly say he never would have thought it. He found out Hikori was right when he went to a convenient store in the middle of town and asked for Number 48 Blues, Vanilla Scented. The cashier reached under the counter for a five hundred dollar pack of smokes and when he opened them they looked normal, but inside the cigarettes themselves were small bags of coke. It was scary to him how easily he'd acquired it and they didn't even try to I.D him for them. If some one were stupid enough to smoke the things they'd probably OD in no time.

Ranma drove by some high school kids trying to find some one to boot for them and when he saw that, he couldn't help but think how easy it was to lose a pack of smokes. You don't even think about putting them down and he'd held onto Hikori's enough to know this. With that, it's also pretty easy to pick up lost smokes as well. Ranma sighed. Business was business and as usual kids were oblivious and dirty cops had to be somewhere on the case.

Ranma's mind started to wander and he saw a T.V ad in his mind. Number 48 Blues. Scented with vanilla to throw off drug dogs. Find them at select stores for the low, low price of five hundred dollars. Ranma got off the advertisement in his head and pulled into an underground parking lot with a run down brick building above it. A meeting place for criminals.

Ranma took the stairs to the sixth floor and walked into an office with broken walls, peeled paint, and holes. "Hey Jerry. Any word from any one?"

As usual Jerry had her big old cigar lit with paper work scattered all about. "No one's come in today. Looking for work?"

Ranma shrugged. "Kind of. Hikori's off planning something with Nabiki right now, so I'm a little bored. I might be in the market for a drug dealer though. Got any that owe you money?"

Jerry turned in her swivel chair to a filing cabinet and pulled out some papers. "I may have something tucked away…"

Ranma took the pages and started reading up. "Let's see…" Ranma flipped the pages and it didn't strike him as odd until the third page, that he was reading up a man's life like it was on a menu. "A small time petty drug dealer… I was hoping you'd give me something interesting. Like a big time bruiser drug dealer."

"You should be grateful. I was thinking of you when I put that thing away."

"Awe, that's sweet. Why should I be concerned with this guy?"

Jerry blew some smoke from her mouth and spoke with a sly tone. "He has an interesting customer."

"Oh?"

"It's your bandana buddy."

Ranma looked a little angry and said. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Jerry shrugged with the cigar in her mouth. "I forgot and you just reminded me now. I work with a lot of people Soatome, I can't keep track of everyone's shit for them."

Ranma flipped through the pages some more and skimmed a few lines. "When does he usually visit the guy?"

Jerry shrugged and leaned back in her chair. "Not sure. He seems to go to him at random times. My guy says he hasn't actually seen a drug exchange, so I'm guessing he's a part time informant."

"If that's the case then I don't see why he can't inform me."

Jerry saw the fire in his eyes and thought up a quick safety plan. "Cool your jets Rocky. I need this guy alive. Remember, he's my business before he's yours."

Ranma shrugged it off like it was nothing. "I'll try not to rough him up too much."

"My ass you will. You're going with Jerico, he knows where the guy sells."

"Thanks for bustin' my balls Jerry."

"No problem, it's my pleasure, really. Now hurry the fuck up, I'm a busy lady."

Ranma let Jerico drive as he let his head hang out the window. "Anything new?"

"Not really. Kuno said thanks for getting his house back."

"I was going to keep it for myself, but the bills probably would have been unreal. Where there any bodies?"

"Nope."

"Good. I scared them enough then."

The Kitten Club was now the new official hide out for Ranma's buddies. Nabiki stood behind Hikori and talked over his shoulder as he wrote on a piece of paper. "That's annoying you know?"

Nabiki had her hands on her hips and a smoke in her mouth. "Well if your plans weren't so shotty and full of holes then I wouldn't bug you."

"Yours aren't any better…"

"Yes they are."

Hikori got out of his chair and plopped Nabiki in the seat. "Ok, then you have a go."

Hikori did just as she did to him with the ever-watchful eye over her shoulder. He started pointing out her spelling mistakes as well as every hole he saw as well. Nabiki was at an advantage though. She was female and she knew Hikori well enough that he wouldn't hit a lady, so she grabbed his hand and quickly shoved his finger into the electric pencil sharpener. "ARGH!"

"Better get a band-aid…"

Hikori gave her an acidic look and stomped off towards the medical box. He opened it with his finger in his mouth and to his horror there were no band-aids. He went back to Nabiki and there she was writing away while twirling a band-aid between her fingers. Hikori knew right away that this was going to be difficult and he would more then likely lose this battle. "Lady… This means war."

Nabiki didn't sound scared, nor did she seem to care. "I know."

Ranma was staying silent with his thoughts in his head. Ukyo had finally woken up but she didn't look all that well. When she saw Ranma she knew something was wrong and every one seemed to make him the bearer of bad news. He told her how long she was out for, what happened, what Ryouga had done, and ever since then she just kept looking at the ceiling and when Ranma saw that he knew that it was the same look he had when he got up. Thoughts were racing through her head, she didn't know who or what to blame, and it was obvious that she would want a piece of the action soon.

A piece of trash being blown across the street caught Ranma's attention and he came back to reality. He looked over at Jerico and it was clear he was becoming nervous with the odd silence. "So what have you been up to for the last couple months?"

Jerico looked a little relieved and answered quickly. "Not a whole lot. Me and my gang pretty much got our asses stomped, and we've been really short handed lately with Jerry recovering and all."

"How long was she out for?"

"Only two weeks. He doesn't look it but he's as tough as nails."

"I wonder what that makes me?" Ranma thought about that for a second, but Jerico reassured him.

"Jerry just had flesh wounds. By all rights you should be dead right now. I think that puts you in the category of eating rocks and shitting gunpowder."

Ranma couldn't help but laugh at that. "Thanks man. I needed that."

"It's true. I have to admit though. Everyone has been a little jumpy around you lately. You kind of blew up and in that one night you managed to raise all sorts of hell. Don't tell him I said this, but Jerry was sweating."

"Why?"

"He thought that you might have gone after him. Jerry and I were pretty much the only survivors, so he thought that you'd think he sold you out or something."

"Would Jerry sell me out?"

Jerico shook his head. "Hell no. You're the only guy in the city that isn't afraid of Jasper, so you're the only guy that'll try and do something. You're dangerous man, any one that watches the news can tell you that. I'm sure you've made Jasper sweat a few times."

"The way I see it, Jasper can't do anything more to me. I guess some people would be scared if they went through what I have, but you know…" Ranma looked up and shook his head. "He can't do anything else to me. He can keep screwing with my friends, he can kill them, he can do what ever he wants, but in the end I'll fucking kill him and I'll be laughing like a madman when I do it. If I go down before I can take him out then oh, well. I'll be dead and won't really care at that point. Don't get me wrong though, I'd like to live through this all and I'd prefer it if none of my buds died, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. After what happened at the graveyard, I think they've all sealed their fates just like I did."

"That's deep… and little scary at the same time… and I've never had an omelet before."

Ranma smiled and started playing with the reclining feature his seat had. "They're not all that great."

They pulled up into an alleyway and turned the car off. Ranma looked around the empty scene and asked "So where's our guy?"

"He should be around here somewhere. If not then he'll be at home."

Ranma pulled out the file on the guy again and after looking at it he said. "Works close to home doesn't he? Not smart for the stuff he's dealing."

"He's got some protection through Timmy's men, but not a lot. The police don't bug him, but other then that he's on his own."

Ranma got out of the car and started looking around for a face to match the picture he had. Jerico followed beside him and look for places the guy may have been hiding in. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask."

Ranma kept his eyes in other directions and said. "What?"

"Have you guys managed to find out where Jasper is yet?"

"Sort of."

"What does 'sort of' mean?"

Ranma pulled out his gun and started running. "I'll tell ya in a sec. C'mon!" Ranma saw the guy dealing to a couple teenagers in a parking lot surrounded by buildings, with only one exit. Ranma let a shot go off into the air and told Jerico to wait at the entrance. "Hey! I wanna have a word with you."

The dealer was quick to accuse and pushed one of the teenagers down. His voice was quick, high-pitched and really annoying. "Lil' muthafuckers! You sold ma ass out! I outta pop yo asses!" The dealer pulled a gun out of his hoody belly pocket, but it didn't stay in his hand long. Ranma was getting pretty good at targeting things in people's hands. A bullet soared and the pistol flew out of the dealer's hand, when he fell over his hand was shaking and he said something like, "AHH-OW! Muthafucker, that my fuckin' hand ahshole!"

Ranma pulled the kid off the ground with one hand and pushed him towards his buddy. "Take a hike guys." The two nodded and ran off passed Jerico while Ranma turned to the dealer. "You must be Denver."

"Muthafucker! Ma name be Death-Row!" Ranma picked him up for the sole purpose of smacking him across the side of the head and sending him back to the ground. "AHH-OW!"

"Shut your fucking mouth. I've got the gun so I'm the one wearing the pants around here, you got that?"

"I ain't listening to no mo of yo-" Ranma was starting to like this smacking game, because every time the guy went back to the ground, he heard that satisfying, "AHH-OW!" along with the fact that he looked like a rag doll with his arms flying around. This brought a smile to Ranma's face.

"I'm just here for some information Denver. I'm looking for some one, goes by the name of Ryouga." Ranma saw the quick look in Denver's eyes and knew right away he had something for him. "Ever heard of him?"

"I don't know any of this buuuullshit you talking about." This time Ranma just held him up and started smacking him repeatedly across the face. "AHH-OW! Muthafucker AHH-OW! Stop muthafucker! Timmy gonna kill yo ass! AHH-OW!"

Ranma looked back at Jerico and said. "This is fun, wanna try?"

Jerico just shook his head trying not to laugh. "I'm good."

"So what do you know Denver?"

"AHH-OW! Man that muthafucker don't see me no more!" Ranma whacked him again. "AHH-OW!"

"So you lied to me… I'm shocked… What were you selling him?"

"That is MY buisnes- AHH-OW! I just sold him some smack ahshole!"

"Heroin huh…? How about blow?"

"I don't sell no blow muthaf- AHH-OW! He be my delivery boy fo that shit man! Let ma ass go!"

"Who's he delivering too?"

Ranma cut Denver off before he had a chance. "AHH-OW! It jus some white boy over in some casino"

Ranma looked at the guy with a puzzled expression. "You're white too ya idiot." Ranma gave him another slap and asked. "Give me a name."

"I don't have no name! Jus' some room number."

Ranma was getting tired of the guy so he put his gun under Denver's chin. "Guess my next question."

"Jade Garden. Room 982… Foo…"

"Good boy. Now I've been told that you've been dealing him info too. What kind?"

"That boy just be buying photos of his girlfriend that all. She always asleep in them pictures."

"Who gave them to you to hand to him?"

"The guy always be different. He just hand me a card and I know he from Timmy's place."

"Got a card handy?" The dealer slowly pulled it out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Ranma. "Thanks." He threw the guy onto the ground and started walking away.

The Dealer whistled and yelled something interesting, "Get em' Louie!" and quite literally from out of nowhere, probably from behind a trash can or something, a big man with a head two sizes to small for his body came running out and at Ranma.

His bottom lip stuck out, adding to his stupid look and it was clear he was only good for breaking things. From the sounds of his voice he sounded like a retarded hick. "Here I coooommmmeeee!"

Ranma just waited with a lazy look in his eye for Louie to get close, and when he was in range Ranma balled up his fist and clocked Louie across the jaw as hard as he could. The six foot four man twirled in the air with a dumbfounded expression on his face as his teeth flew out of his mouth with a trail of spit and the expression went away as his eyes rolled back in their sockets. As he hit the ground with a thud Ranma pointed down at him and spoke with the same accent. "There ya went!" Ranma then put a hand to his ear and said. "What's that? I'm your daddy? Damn right I'm your daddy! Owned bitch!" Ranma went over and replaced Jerico's spot with a smug smile and said. "Your turn."

Jerico started making his way over on the verge of killing himself laughing and Denver realized quickly that only half the questions were over. "Awe hell nah!" Jerico started where Ranma left off. "AHH-OW!"

Back at the Kitten club Shampoo was talking with some police in the main area, telling them that the attack was random and that the man was insanely drunk. The place was going to be closed down for another week and a half before any business could start happening, but that meant that it was a perfect hiding place for every one. The cops stayed out of the back for the most part, but there were a few hidden doors in walls and what not, so harboring Ukyo was easy. In the back was Tofu doing his usual checkup on the weary girl, and things were starting to look up. She kept herself silent through out the whole thing, but before Tofu walked out she spoke. "Does Ranma want to kill him…?"

Tofu turned around and sat on the side of her bed. "Right now, he does. Things may change though."

Ukyo let out a sigh and said. "I don't think so… I know Ranma won't forgive him… I can't even forgive him."

Tofu started cleaning his glasses and spoke his thoughts. "I would like to believe that Ranma would forgive him, but after what I heard, I can't say anymore. I've never had that happen to me before. But I'm going to tell you now that I don't want to hear you talking about revenge. Enough of it is around and we don't need someone else dying because of it."

"Is it wrong if I still love Ryouga?" New thoughts were racing through her head now trying to get away from what she knew Ranma was going to do to Ryouga.

"Of course not. What he did, he thought would help you-" Tofu stopped mid-sentence realizing he'd just said something he didn't want to say. It was one of those moments that he wished he could have reached out and put his words right back in his mouth. "Sorry… I didn't mean to say that."

Ukyo started looking grim. "I guess if I'd taken better care of myself…"

"Don't talk like that." His voice sounded direct and had a stern tone to it. "What happened was not your fault. Greedy people with high ambitions are to blame. No one could control what happened that night, and I'm very sure Ryouga never meant to…" Tofu paused and bit his tongue. "I'm sure things just moved to fast for him to know what was happening. He was backed into a corner with very few options. A lot of us were including yourself and I. I can't tell you what's going to happen next, so all we can do is help each other through it. You wouldn't believe what Ranma thought he had to go through alone, and I don't want you thinking the same thing. I'm telling you this as your friend, do you understand?"

Ukyo nodded, but if she accepted it was another question. "Yeah…"

Tofu got up and touched her feet. "Can you move these yet?" She nodded again and wiggled her toes. Tofu pushed her leg back and said, "Push." It was weak but she got her leg straight again. "Good. I'll be starting you on light exercises in a day or two. I want to put Ranma on them as well, but he seems to be doing well enough for himself."

Ukyo thought about Ranma for a second and asked, "How come he's never around?"

"He's angry as usual. I'm sure it'll pass."

"I guess he doesn't really want to see me…"

"He's the one that rescued you, from the hospital, I'm sure he wants to, but he probably feels uncomfortable around you."

That was new information to her, but it still left her wondering. "Why?"

"He feels he should have gotten you out sooner. He's been angry with himself mostly lately, so don't take it personally. He'll come around eventually."

"I hope so…"

Ranma was driving this time and Jerico was still laughing. "I never would have thought I could have so much fun getting Jerry's money."

"It's like I said, if you want to enjoy your job, then you have to make it fun. I swear I use that slap-fu tactic all the time and it has yet to fail on me."

Jerico looked a little skeptical. "Never once?"

Ranma scratched his head. "Well, once or twice, but you just have to become more violent and generally the same strategy works."

"I should be taking notes… Oh, yeah. What did you mean you sort of know where Jasper is?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, here's the first surprise. He's not even in Japan right now."

Jerico looked at him funny and said. "What? How's he running things then?"

"He's running things from the US in Liberty City. He's a big time crime boss over there as well as here and he only really comes here when things start getting out of hand. Other then that he's always left Timmy and a bunch of guys in charge."

"But Timmy's dead now. Some maniac killed him and threw his head through a window."

"Yeah, that was me."

Jerico look surprised. "Whoa. Jerry didn't mention that. Good one, I've never actually seen someone get on a desk and start screaming 'Yes!' with pelvic thrusts. So if he isn't here then what now?"

"Well chances are no one has told him about Timmy yet, for fear for their lives, so Hikori said that we're going to start causing all sorts of bad shit around his businesses until he finally hears something."

"How do you know that he doesn't know yet?"

"One of the guys at the graveyard told me. On top of that a lot of people don't seem to know that Timmy's actually dead. I was curious why I hadn't had too many attempts on my life till now."

Jerico raise the good old eyebrow. "I thought you guys killed every one there."

"Well, yeah, I did after I asked him some questions."

"Oh."

"I guess Jerry didn't tell you a lot."

Jerico shook his head. "Jerry's really careful about things he's directly involved in and tries not to talk about it, even to me."

"Well we're in the middle of making a plan that'll get his attention for sure."

"What's that?"

Ranma smiled. "Remember that Casino The Jade Garden?"

"The one you ruined way back?"

"Yeah. We're planning on a change in management."

"Didn't Denver say that was where Ryouga was delivering?"

"Yup."

Jerico passed him another odd look. "Don't you think that's kind of a coincidence?"

"Not really. The place is owned by Jasper, so I'd expect dirty dealings going on in there. It's probably his main base of operations and if not, then it's his cigarette company. Either way he's going to be ultra-pissed when all the bad news hits him at once."

"I hope you know what you guys are doing…"

"You're part of the plan too Bucko."

Jerico's eyes turned to slits and he gave Ranma the evil eye. "You bastard!"

-

-

(Nirvana – Come As You Are: Yeah, I know. Nothing too exciting happened this chapter and I'm sorry to say but it had to be this way. I'll make it up to you in the next one though. Party hard damnit!)


	18. A Little Less Conversation

A Little Less Conversation

"The first rule of crime is that money is everything and this should never be forgotten. Who ever has the most money leads all the peons, why? Because they can pay high and expect great return. The second rule is that you have to be able to hold your own, because your friends are not going to bail you out if you fall behind. The second you start dragging your ass is the same second when you find yourself with nothing. The third rule of crime is that the police must be avoided at all costs, and if you've got the balls to shoot one be prepared to become a most wanted. Now we remember the first rule because it defines all the other ones. With money you can buy power as well as people. Police fall into the category of people; therefore they can be bought thus turning them into allies. Now for rule number four. It's a risky business so you have to know when to take chances. It's a lot like the casino we're about to take over. If your wager is small then expect chump change. If you bet everything you got then you better be cheating and you better have a damn good plan to get out before they know what you did or how you did it. If you're going to break bank then stop, because you can only go downhill from there. You value your life? Then learn when to swallow your pride and fold your cards before you lose something you don't want to. Rule five. Cut deals before you cut heads. As usual money talks, but money is something you want to keep so talk sense into them. You got a guy with an attitude? Cut his finger off before you give him a chance to speak. Why cut his finger off? Because then he'll know that you mean to talk business. It's kind of like a handshake, but a lot more violent."

Hikori paused for a moment and looked at every one in the room. He first looked at Jerry and Bugsy standing there with Kuno and then looked at the Amazons, and then at the Tendo's, and then at the Soatome's and then at detective Willis. "Rule six is as important as the rest of them so pays attention. If you ever give an inch then they'll take a mile. Don't let any one close a deal, don't ever accept a starting offer, and for fuck sakes don't get muscled into anything you don't want to be in. You have to be in charge and if you aren't then you're going to get walked on by everybody. We're taking over the Jade garden in two days. Everything goes as the plan states, everyone sticks to the plan, and if for any reason things start to fuck up, then we all abort the plan. Just stand up, walk away, don't look suspicious and just go home."

Hikori brought Soun and Genma forward and said. "These two are our starting distraction. They'll be the ones to start everything off and get the train moving, so to speak. Once they start the distraction, our good friend Mr. Kuno over here will come in as our high roller. We've borrowed two million from Bugsy and he's going to play a single round of Blackjack with Akane." He pointed at Akane to make sure she was paying attention. "We've got a uniform ready for you, and we know which dealer we're replacing, so all you have to do is use the fixed cards, give him twenty and lose with an intense nine card draw. Have you been working on it?"

Akane nodded quickly and Hikori looked back at Kuno. "After you win become the life of the party, get every ones attention, buy drinks, I don't care what you do, you'll have four million by then so, you should be able to think of something. Once that happens it'll be time for signal number three. When Kuno takes the party across the Casino I want Kasumi to come in." Hikori gave another look at Kasumi. "You know what to do?"

"Oh, yes, but I-"

Hikori cut her off right there. "Don't worry, you'll do fine kid. No one will know it was you, besides you'll have Dr. Tofu with ya. You'll take care of her right?"

Tofu nodded with a smile. "Definietly."

"Good. Once you give the signal it'll be the two midgets turn." Both Cologne and Happosia didn't like the short joke but it slid. "Old guy has heart attack and screaming wife, pretty simple. The entire time this is going on, Ranma, Zero, and I will sneak through the security door behind the slot machines and once we're in we'll get the two dirty cops Detective Willis pointed out to us, on their way over. After that it's all about speed." He pointed at Mousse and Shampoo. "We'll get your equipment that night so just play the roll and look professional."

Hikori paused one more time and looked around the room. "Remember. Stick to the plan. Follow the plan. If it does not work out, get away. The last signal will be a bunch of cops coming in and clearing out the Casino, and that'll be every one's cue to join the crowd and get out. Any questions?" Ranma raised her hand. "Yes, you. The transvestite in the back." Jerry thought he was talking to her for a second, but saw Ranma and knew.

Ranma was in fact a girl at the moment so the low blow struck her deep with a slight plan developing in the back of her mind. "Do we have anything for Ukyo yet? She says she wanted a part in this."

"Can she walk yet?"

"Sort of."

"Then no."

"Dick."

"Wait I've got something."

"Really?"

"No." Ranma looked a little injured after that and then Hikori said. "All right. I want everyone back here at four PM Friday. Get to it people."

Every one started walking out and that's when Ranma made her move. "Hey Hikori, guess what?"

"What?"

She grabbed his arm and aimed his finger. "Electric pencil sharpener!"

A quick buzzing sound and Hikori let out a yell. "ARGH! YOU BITCH!" Hikori tackled her to the ground where they started punching each other. "Ha! You're not strong any more! I can take ya!"

"Ow! Ow! Guys? Ow! A little help here! Guys?" A few people stepped over them and Ranma tried a new strategy. "Rape! Rape!" Everyone left leaving Nabiki in the back and closing the door behind her. "You guys are assholes! Ow!"

"I was in the army for 10 years kid! You ain't got shit on me any more!"

Ranma walked out with Hikori behind her, both looking a bit more bruised then they did when they entered. "So have you gotten a hold of Zero yet?"

Hikori was in the middle of lighting a smoke and once the fire was lit he said. "Yeah, I talked to him yesterday. He said he was game for the heist. You know what to do right?"

"Yeah, yeah I know what to do, just make sure no ones following me."

"That's what I'm here for. Now go get your ass to the gym. That Tofu guy said it was a priority."

Ranma rolled her head around sarcastically. "But I'm liking my leisurely life style…"

"It's about to get a lot more hectic, so get in shape and do it fast."

Ranma's expression dropped and she looked a little wary. "I have been and you make it sound like it happens over night…"

Both Ranma and Ukyo went to a private gym just up the road from the Kitten Club and there in their hands were papers with an exercise program. Ukyo started her lightweights and rhythmic exercises, but Ranma took his own approach. He threw the papers away and started training for power. Heavy sets and then the punching bag seemed to be his favorite. It was to Ranma's displeasure that his father came in to check on things. Ranma had the bench press going with a hundred and fifty pounds being heaved up and down and that's when Genma came into view. He stood over his son and Ranma tried hard to ignore him.

He had gotten close to his tenth lift, but he couldn't make it. The heavy bar fell slowly to his chest and it couldn't be helped, he had to ask for help. "Can ya pull this thing off me?"

Genma shrugged. "Well maybe if you put your purse down and used both hands you might be able to do it."

Ranma started to get pissed and with a hard push he got it up himself and set it on the catch. "I don't need your damn help then…"

Ukyo watched in amazement as Genma kept following Ranma around and berating him the entire time, but that was the genius in it. Every time Ranma got mad, he'd push himself harder and who else could push him harder then the old guy that made his life hell. "So how long have you been such a wuss? I've never been one myself so I'm curious as to how it is."

"Fuck off!" Ranma turned up the speed of the treadmill to drown out the voice of his father.

It was when Ranma was on the rowing machine that Genma went to far and he lost it. "So what are you going to be rowing? A little pink raft with you Barbie collection?"

"That's it!" Ranma kicked the machine hard enough to make it tip and he started swinging wild punches at his old man. "Every fucking day I come here, you follow me around and don't shut up! What the hell's your problem?"

Genma ducked behind random machines and eventually lead Ranma to the punching bag. "If you don't like it boy, then just hit me."

Genma may have been fat fuck but he was a speedy fat fuck. "RARGH!" Every time Ranma hit with everything he had Genma pulled his face out of the way and put the bag between his face and Ranma's fist. "I'll kill ya!"

"Go on! Get mad at me boy!" Kicks were making there way into the mix, but Genma still couldn't be hit. These heavy hit and rage filled outbursts went on for ten long minutes until Ranma was red in the face and breathing hard. "Is that all you've got boy? It pains me as a father to know I've raised such an outstanding wimp. I guess I'll have to go tell your mother how much of a failure you are… Can't even hit his old man once in a little practice…"

Ranma had enough and with a strong yell he ripped the one hundred and seventy pound punching bag off the chain it was held up from and held it above his head. Genma's eyes went wide as the bag flew at him and crushed him under its weight. Ranma stomped off and grabbed Ukyo on the way out, behind him he left destroyed machines, broken weights and single man moaning in pain. Moments later a man walked in who happened to be the owner and looked at the scene with a look of shock horror on his face. "I went for lunch for like an hour! What the fuck?"

Genma's head popped up and with a nervous tone he said. "This isn't my fault… I swear…"

"Oh? And where's you gym pass?"

"Uhh…"

"Fucking old guys! You come in here with your gross tight ass pants, thinking you know how to use the fucking equipment and end up breaking all my shit! Who's going to pay for all this?" The man cracked his knuckles and started walking over to an injured Genma lying on the ground. He was pinned beneath the bag and had no escape.

Ranma's face was red and his breath came heavy as he stood on the corner of the road with Ukyo waiting for Hikori to pick them up. "How am I supposed to work out if that bastard keeps coming in there to bug me? I can't take this! That's a week straight now!" Ukyo kept herself silent not knowing exactly how to answer him. She could have said that Genma was just there to help, but he wouldn't take it well and as it stood, he didn't see it that way, even with an elevated heart rate.

When Hikori came he wanted to hit up a drive through at the Happy Burger and get himself a smiley meal. Ranma gave Ukyo the front seat and in the back he stayed fuming his anger in silence. This had gone on for close to ten minutes now and Hikori needed something to get some sound happening in the car. When he got up to the window to place his order, he looked at the menu and then at the cashier and with an utterly straight face asked. "Hey, if a smile is on the menu and labeled as free, do I still have to pay the forty nine cents to get it super sized?"

Moments of silence filled the air and despite his best efforts in the back seat, Ranma had an expression on his face that both looked bitterly angry, but on the verge of laughing. Essentially he looked like he was getting ready to pass a massive stone. Before he broke out he blurted. "Get me a number fucking four! With a root beer. And no I don't want it super sized."

Hikori smiled knowing he'd personally ended Ranma's bad mood and was now in the good books of the hot cashier. "I'll have a smiley meal and it better come with a toy. What do you want missy?"

The two days passed almost exactly the same as the other, but in that time Ranma and Mousse had been getting to know each other a lot better. They started working together a few days before on the task of making Jasper's return horrible. On several occasions they had taken over small crime rings and handed them over to either Jerry, or Bugsy to take care of them. Money was flowing in like the sweet honey it was and it all came at the expense of Ranma holding a man's leg while Mousse held the other and together, plunged the toilet with the guy's head. Most gave in almost immediately hoping that Timmy would come to their rescue, but others tried to hold out before they died. Mini-marts, illegal lottery booths, and bookies were all changing where their money went to and who protected them. With the money that came in they started buying cops deep down in the system and now they were getting away with all their crimes pretty easily.

Unlike Ryouga, Mousse enjoyed the hands on approach of dealing with people personally and he had this fantasy that he'd eventually find the guy that drugged Shampoo and killed his kid. With every place they knocked over a new name would pop up, or a new location would be known and like dogs they'd sniff out the area until they found something and took it for themselves. Any drug dealer that'd been working for Timmy or by himself was now under the control of Jerry. Any secret shipments or illegal cargo's went to Bugsy and he worked it into his human trade plans.

Hikori made the plan clear. They weren't there to clean up Nerima, they needed the crime to hide their own, all they needed to do was change were the money went, because who ever had the most money, had the most power. Rule one was coming back again and again and the pattern was becoming clear with each new place they took over. Being technically the only people in charge of the city, gave every one a lot of freedom in what they did. All the small time crooks looked at these new guys as unstoppable, and so dangerous that even Jasper wouldn't do anything to stop them. It wouldn't be long before who ever was left in charge of Timmy's gang, would have to call Jasper to come back and clean up their mess.

Friday night four PM came and they all sat in the back room of the kitten club again with Hikori up front. A few extra people were involved in this meeting, but some people's jobs had to stay secret so not every body became a liability. Every one knew their job and what they had to look for, and once they were done they got out and waited until someone called them. So once every thing was looked over quickly it all started to go into motion.

Genma and Soun walked towards the Casino wearing lots of plaid looking like eighty's pimps with bottles of booze. They staggered into the hall and started gambling away what money they were given. While they lost to a paid dealer, Kasumi slipped into the back with Tofu, both dressed like chefs and Akane behind them with a nervous look on her face. Akane had the dealers uniform on and once Tofu and Kasumi positioned themselves she branched off into an employee change room she had used before. In there was the dealer she'd replace and he looked a little nervous. "I know we have to make it look like I was jumped but… Please be gentle…"

Akane started throwing him around with the occasional, "I'm sorry…" said as she beat the bajezuz out of him. When his lips were swollen and eyes closed she stuffed him in a locker and straightened out her uniform in the mirror.

As she got ready to head out Genma and Soun had finally lost all their money and Genma had punched the dealer. A big fuss started and a few chairs were knocked over, but moments later after the two received a sound beating they were thrown into a detainment room in the back where they sat and waited. Akane caught the ruckus just as she stepped out and when a few bouncers that may have recognized her were gone she went out to her designated table.

Kuno pulled up into the valet parking in something small, sexy, red, topless and he was dressed to kill. A flashy tuxedo, gold cufflinks, a pair of soft leather shoes, and an odd amount of frills coming out of anything that could be seen as an opening in his suit. He got out of his little red corvette with a paid trophy wife wearing an expensive black dress with devilish pearls, a sexy sway of the hips, and a pair of stilettos that pushed up those sexy long legs. AKA Nabiki. They both walked in like they owned the place, with arms locked and they found the floor manager. The man had a smile that spoke a thousand lies and a sense of smell that could find money. Kuno pulled out a wad of bills and with a naturally charismatic smile said, "I'd like to place only one bet tonight, and regardless of whether or not I win, I'll see about investing in this place. I assume my people have spoken to you and Mr. Killwining about this?"

The man looked ecstatic and started asking a million questions. "Yes, yes we've received word of your arrival and as a fellow gambler, Mr. Killwining can't refuse something like this. Can I offer you or your wife anything to drink Mr. Rustford? Anything to eat before you place your bet?"

Kuno turned with Nabiki and the floor manager followed. "No thank you, sir. We'd like to play as soon as we can. As you can see, my lovely wife can hardly contain herself." The statement probably would have worked better if Nabiki acted the part, but when two million is involved it's hard to read some one's expressions properly.

"Er… Of coarse! Please let me take you to a table we have arranged, so that-"

Nabiki cut the man off with a painfully forward and business like tone. "That'll be alright. I'm sure we can find our own table. We don't mean to offend Mr. Killwining or anything, but we have a slight fear of being cheated of our money. I'm sure its nothing but I think we'll pick our own dealer." Both Nabiki and Kuno started heading for Akane's table and before the floor manager could follow a strange man wearing a lot of make-up stopped him and asked where the bathroom was.

Before the manager could say anything the stranger hit him in the stomach with a hidden taser and as the manager slouched over he said. "Hey, you feeling alright man? I'll get ya to the bathroom."

The two walked in and the manager was on the verge of passing out. The stranger zapped him again and shoved him into a stall with his pants down. The stranger started pealing off a layer of clothes he was wearing and when he was done he wore the same clothes as the manager had including a little badge he had clipped to his belt. He went over to the mirror and he saw his make-up coming off a little showing a piece of a tattoo on his face. He covered it up with some more of the skin colored stuff and under his breath said. "Fucking Ranma… 'You're part of the plan too Bucko.'" His voice sounded annoyed and sarcastic at the same time. "Fucking hate Jerry too… I better get a big cut…"

Jerico walked out of the men's room and made his way back to the blackjack table. "Sorry to keep you waiting Mister and Misses Rustford. How much were you planning on wagering?"

Kuno gave a moment's pause to build the tension around the people who were listening. "Two million on one hand." His voice was loud enough to cause a brief silence in the crowd and soon people started crowding around. "Is it too much?"

Jerico shook his head with a smile. "There's no such thing as a bet too low around here."

"Then if I win I'll personally buy the rest of the bar for every one here tonight."

Cheering started up and Akane was ready. One card lay on its face while a ten of clubs sat facing up. On the dealers side was a two of hearts and an unknown. Kuno lifted his card and after a brief moment of anticipation he said, "hit me." A four of diamonds came his way and with a smile he said, I'll stay. He flipped his hidden card and show a six of clubs bring him to twenty even.

Akane started dealing her cards out slowly showing the crowd what she had. It started with an ace of spades, then with a two of clubs, her third card was a four of hearts and she looked annoyed. Her secret card was a three of spades bringing her total to twelve. The next card drawn was a two of clubs, fourteen, then an ace of diamonds, fifteen, then an ace of hearts, sixteen, then a two of diamonds, making it eighteen. The crowd was silent knowing she was close to a win and even though Kuno was told he was going to win he couldn't help but sweat a little. The next card would tell all and Akane dragged it out. She flipped the card and threw it to the table with a slow spin and when it landed the crowed gasped. "Jack of spades," She turned over her card and said, "Twenty eight; dealer bust. Congratulations sir, you've just won two million dollars."

The crowd around Kuno and Nabiki started shouting and screaming with cheers. Kuno leaned back in his seat and with a wave of his hand shouted. "Drinks all around!" Every one made to the bar in no time flat and as most drinks were free in Vegas, this was Japan and the crowd went nuts. After that it was money all around. People started following him and Nabiki around trying to get some of that luck to rub off on them. Jerico followed close with them and took pictures as they shot craps, spun the roulette wheel, got a royal flush in poker and once the fun was done Jerico offered them a room up in suit number 982, free of charge. While this happened there was an old couple in the bingo hall stirring up a scene.

Happosia was up on a table screaming, "I won! I won!" He held up his bingo card high for every one to see, but not too many believed him because only two numbers had been called. As Happosia was warming up for his heart attack, through the open doors every one saw a large party of people all running for the bathroom. About a hundred and fifty people were lined up outside of the doors and yelling and screaming for every one else to hurry up.

In five minutes flat there was a lone bouncer on the floor asking around to see if there were any plumbers around. Ranma's eyes followed the bouncer and when he cornered a guy said. "We'll pay you as much as you want. Some one slipped about three hundred pounds of exlacts into the buffet table. Every one's working on it, but… There is shit, EVERYWHERE!"

Ranma smiled and thought to himself, 'I've heard that line before.' When the bouncer left Ranma started making his way over to the security entrance. When Hikori saw him making his move he joined him in the walk and to anyone wishing to glance would have seen two men with thick black plastic sunglasses, blue jeans, and a couple shirts that you'd only ever expect to see Don Ho wear in one of his Hawaiian lounge jam sessions, featuring the song Tiny Bubbles. Zero was waiting with a little device that could find the key code to open the door. It was hooked up quickly and in no time they were in. The three waited in a small office as an announcement went through the P.A in the back rooms asking for medical personnel to go to the bingo hall. A few men ran down the halls and towards the door to investigate the scene, but Ranma and Hikori blocked them and beat them into unconsciousness.

The three made their way down the halls to a room Zero pointed out on some blue prints he had. A door was opened and there were Genma and Soun. The two stripped down and much like Jerico had a second outfit on underneath. They were dressed like the medics that were dispatched and they put their pimp clothes on the two sleeping men. Ranma tossed Genma and Soun a couple of medical bags and said, "You're up."

Cologne was pounding on Happosia's chest with a little more force then she should have used, but it was pay back for making her look stupid. Genma and Soun came in with a rush and started mutilating the old man with a same kind of vengeance, while making it look like they were treating him. Soun pulled out his walkie-talkie and said, "Get an ambulance here as soon as you can." The transmission went straight to a radio set up in an ambulance being driven by Mousse with Shampoo in the passenger seat.

"Remember, we have to look professional."

Mousse nodded but after thinking about it for a second asked. "Wait, how do we do that?"

Shampoo shrugged. "I was hoping you'd tell me…" Mousse loosened his collar and started driving with a nervous expression.

The hallway the three were walking down finally came to a split and that's when Ranma went on his own. "You guys deal with keeping every one occupied, I'll strike a deal with Mr. Killwining."

Hikori and smile and Zero handed Ranma a suitcase. "All you'll need is a signature."

"Thanks." Ranma found some stairs leading up, while Hikori and Zero took care of the surveillance room.

Hikori busted in with a couple of handguns out and asked in a business like tone, "Now who did I pay off and who's willing to accept money so I don't kill ya?" Every one raised their hands and Hikori started tossing wads of money around the room from a bag he was carrying. "That's what I like to see. By the end of tonight, you'll all still have jobs and the management is going to be changing. Don't be alarmed because nothing will change except that you'll all start getting dental and life insurance." Every one was quiet until a lone man started clapping his hands slowly, which started every one else. Hikori stood there with his arms out and said, "See? I thought we'd see eye to eye, now lets start deleting a few things from the video surveillance. Oh and before I forget we're having Hawaiian Fridays from now on so just go to the hemp shop, say you're working for Jade Garden and start stocking up on sweet shirts. You'll only get eighty bucks off every month, so anything more will come from your own wallet."

Another cheer came up and the videos started being tampered with while Zero looked at a small device he had in his hand. "The car's on route, you should call soon…"

Hikori dialed a private number on a cell phone he had. "Hello neighborhood watch? Yes, I'd like the closest patrol car you have to come by the Jade Garden Casino for a brief check. There seems to be a crack dealer standing outside the building, dealing crack to crack head kids."

Up in room 982 Jerico had his boot ready and kicked in the door. Both he and Kuno ran in as Nabiki waited outside. A man's voice was heard inside yelling something about cops, and he started running for the door. A man with a serving cart was passing by and Nabiki picked up a nice solid looking platter. A man with a scar on his face came shooting out the door and like a Louisville slugger she swung the platter hard and took the guy down with a nice metallic ring echoing down the hall. Jerico and Kuno looked at each other, then at Nabiki and the three of them dragged him back into the room leaving the serving man alone and very confused. Under his breath he shook his head and said. "I swear every Friday night, it's always something…"

Ranma had this nifty little tranquilizer gun that Zero rigged up for him and after nineteen uses it still delivered. Ranma walked into Mr. Killwining's office and he was a little bit surprised to see some flamboyant weirdo just walk in and sit down at his desk. "Uhhh, sorry. Am I supposed to be expecting you?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not really. I'm here on Mr. Rustford's behalf. He won at the blackjack table and would like to invest in your business."

"Oh! I see."

Ranma remembered all the lines Nabiki gave him as he pulled out his suitcase and pulled out a bunch of papers. "Yes, the usual paper work will need to be signed and he's offering up to a lump sum of ten million dollars for you to play around with on expansion."

Mr. Killwining looked a little shocked. "Will the ten million be all? Wait, what's your name?"

"Deez Hanginnuts, sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier and no the ten million is just for this month. After he sees how you've dealt with various expansion he may offer more." Ranma leaned in close and used a secretive voice. "Don't mark my words exactly, but I overheard him speak of dollars reaching as high as fifty million if future returns seem promising."

Mr. Killwining went very silent for a few moments and the money was getting to his head. "I-I see… This… This could be a very promising relationship."

Ranma held out a few papers and a pen. "Mister and Misses Rustford are looking into partial ownership, but no more then ten percent. You will still control ninety percent of the company and as I said, this is a long-term relationship. If you sign these papers then he promises more business along with higher revenues. I'm sure you've received the documents concerning his work in Las Vegas."

Mr. Killwining had the pen in his hand and the look of greed in his eye. "Yes, I have…"

Ranma lowered his voice again and leaned forward. "And just between you and me, a man by the name of Jasper in Liberty City advised us to take our business out here."

Killwining's eyes went wide for a brief moment and his pen was on the paper before you could say 'cats ass.' Mr. Killwining signed on all the dotted lines he saw and after he was done said, "I'll… I'll just have my people go through this briefly and I think we can close this deal."

Ranma snagged the papers out of his hands faster then he could react and shoved them into his case. "That won't be necessary. We've already had a good look at them ourselves."

"But-"

Ranma shut him up with a hand and said. "We'll make sure the insurance office gets your will."

Killwining stood still and said, "Pardon me?"

Jerry was standing outside with a suitcase and that big cigar between her lips. The sound of a window breaking twenty floors up was heard and just as the police pulled their car up a body hit the concrete with a splat. Two officers looked to where the body of Mr. Killwining hit the ground and then at Jerry. She stepped over the body and up to the car with a wide smile. "Nothing happened here, no one died, it was just a mild disturbance call and I've got five hundred g's that say I'm right." She held up the suitcase to the window and pulled out Timmy's calling card. "Now fuck off."

The two dirty cops took the money and saluted with a smile. "Thanks for clearing up the situation ma'am. I don't think there's a need for a report. Have a good night."

As they pulled away an ambulance pulled up and coming out the doors was Happosia on a stretcher being rushed to the two open doors of the van. Once they loaded him up Happosia got up into the front while Shampoo and Mousse pulled the body of Mr. Killwining into the back and onto the stretcher. Any one watching the events had just seen a body fall from the sky, a cop car verify it, and an ambulance save two lives in one go and all in under a minute. These were clearly professionals doing a mighty fine job.

Ranma walked out of the office, pealing off his clothes and underneath was a cop uniform with a badge and all. He pulled out a walkie-talkie set to channel four and said, "Disturbance at Jade Garden Casino, please send back-up personnel to evacuate building." He unrolled his sleeves and when he got back to the ground floor there was Hikori and Zero waiting for him and dressed the same. "The place is ours. Let's hit the fire alarm."

Zero pulled a little red box on the wall and hit a few buttons on a laptop he had. "Hee hee hee! Look out fools for I control the elements!"

Hikori nudged him and said. "Just turn on the sprinklers already…"

A wailing fire bell went off and the three were out on the floor, evacuating people out of the building. Just outside the building were a couple of cop cars and in one a middle-aged woman looking good for her age and making her uniform look sexy. Beside her was her rookie partner, looking a bit thin and not really built for the job. In the other car was a large man with a donut and beside him was the only legitimate cop on the scene. In the backs of both cars were Bugy's men disguised the same way as the others. They all heard Ranma's call on channel four and it was Nodoka and Ukyo who stepped out first. Behind them were Bugsy and Willis with all their men. Willis nudged Bugsy and said. "Hey, you've got to turn the flashers on."

"Oh, right." The eight walked in and Bugsy had the megaphone. "Every one remain calm. As you can tell from the sprinklers there is a fire in the building. We ask that you leave in an orderly fashion." He smiled as the large crowd swarmed the doors and tried to squeeze out. People poured out from the elevators and stairwells, but many were taking advantage of all the money lying about. It wasn't anything to worry about; anything lost would be made back in two days tops.

The fire department came and Ranma was out with a wet shirt giving them all something to look at. "False alarm boys, some drunk guy held a lighter up to one of the sprinklers." A man in a suite ran down the street holding his ass and screaming, "Ohgodohgodohgod!" Ranma looked back at the fire fighters and said, "He was covering his escape in an illegal exlacts smuggling ring. No worries here gentlemen, but thanks for showing up so quick."

The building was cleared in about ten minutes and once the sprinklers were turned off all the pretend cops sat at the bar with some bottles. Jerry tossed Bugsy a bottle of something hard and said, "Happy birthday Bugsy. We got ya this fine vintage and it comes with a casino."

Ranma handed Bugsy a suitcase full of papers and said. "She's all yours now. Don't forget your friends."

Bugsy took a hit from the bottle and lit a smoke. "Aww, you guys knew exactly what I wanted…"

Before the party started Jerico, Kuno, and Nabiki all walked off the elevator dragging a man with a terrible looking bump on his head. Ranma got off the counter of the bar and sounded excited. "Oh! Is that Mr. 982?"

Nabiki nodded with that old sly smile every one knew. "Yup. And he's got something interesting to say."

-

-

(Elvis vs JXL – A Little Less Conversation: Well there's one more for ya. Have I seen Ocean's Eleven? Yes. I've also looked at my calendar and noticed a day coming up. I might have something lined up for October 31, but no promices. I'd need to set up for it first meaning a chapter would come before it. Don't worry it won't throw off anything. Now party hard.)


	19. Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress

Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress

It was a hell of a party and Ranma got hammered the night before. As he opened his eyes he thanked the blinds in the room for their merciful shielding from the light. His brain felt too big for his skull and all he could do was turn over and moan, but the only problem was that he couldn't. His arm was firmly lodged under the body of a smooth sexy lady. "Oh god." He muttered to himself as he looked at her hair and knew the hairdo. It was short all around, brown, and had bangs just over her eyes. Ranma had gotten smashed with Nabiki and from the feel of things he was very much naked beside her. "Man…" It was going to be awkward when she woke up, but knowing her she'd probably pass it off as nothing and make sure he didn't tell anyone.

He thought about it hard for a minute or two, but gave up and decided to enjoy the moment. He scooted up against her back, wrapped an arm around her waist and started dozing back to sleep. She was soft and warm and as his head cleared he started to remember a wild and crazy night. He remembered a night of unbelievable sex that wouldn't escape him anytime soon. He remembered the bed rocking and banging against the wall while she screamed with pleasure, and all he could think now was, "Your welcome ma'am." with a smug little smile.

Everyone got the call and came back to their moistened casino. The tenants eventually came back to reclaim their rooms as well as their cash and the Nerima team partied it up. Bugsy was given ownership over the Jade Garden Casino and Nabiki was going to help with the numbers. Ranma ran his fingers along Nabiki's stomach and held her close. "Yeah… I got myself a sugar mama…" She moaned in her sleep and held onto his hand.

Every one had a drink of some kind, but it became a contest between Ranma, Hikori, and his dad to see who could drink the most. Things after that became a bit fuzzy, and as to who won the contest, he couldn't remember. Bits and pieces came to his mind of breaking in the new slot machines, with endless quarters; a devil's playground was now open for business and with it came women, money, power, and free drinks with little umbrellas in them. He fell off his chair more then once and his dad passed out on the roulette wheel. Hikori was able to hold his own quite well, so he probably won, but after every one left, or went up to a room Ranma remember seeing some guy he hadn't seen in a while and what ever they talked about was lost to him. Eventually Bugsy went up to his new office and ordered a window repair, but it was after Nabiki left that- "Wait a goddamn minute…"

Ranma searched his thoughts but there was a gap somewhere and then things started dawning on him. He opened his eyes to look at the neck he was kissing. "This is what her hair used to look like…" In two years Nabiki had a different style of hair, it was a little bit longer now, with a few minor changes, but it was something more that was bothering him. "And since when does she smell like Cuban cigars…?" He thought for a moment and let out a shriek.

He shot right up and sat in the bed as she opened her eyes and shot up beside him with a loaded gun. "What? What? The fucks going on?" She felt him jerk in his spot and she spun right around with the covers still over her legs. "Huh?" Ranma stared at Jerry with an empty expression, which started to twist into horror. Jerry looked all around and then back at him with a confused look. Her eyes searched the room with quick looks and when she saw the floor she also saw four used condoms. She looked back at Ranma again and as he sat frozen she lifted the covers a little where Ranma sat. After a good look she lifted the covers over her legs and saw herself naked with a little extra most didn't know about. She scratched her head and started to think. After a few moments she pointed at Ranma and said, "It's a little bit foggy, but… I'm sure you were the 'man' at least three times." Ranma blinked once and the covers shot off as he ran for the bathroom screaming. When she saw his ass she thought again and said, "No, only twice… I think… Yeah… We took turns…"

The shower turned on and Ranma could be heard crying. "For god sake, stop talking! I don't need this right now!" Ranma's cries came out through the splash of the water and he sounded like a broken man.

Jerry just sat there thinking until something hit her. "Oh, my god…" A sinister smile crept slowly across her face and she reached down beside the bed for her coat. After pulling out a cell phone she hit a few numbers a voice came on and she sounded hysterical. "Bugsy! Guess what? I road the hurricane last night and it! Felt! Good!"

Ranma came bursting out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. "PUT THAT FUCKING PHONE AWAY!"

Jerry's eyes were wide, but her attention was on the phone. "Yeah that's him! I told you so!"

"AHH!" Ranma snatched the phone out of her hand, ended the call and threw the phone off the balcony. He shut the door behind him and stared at her with a huge amount of edginess. "You are never to speak of this to any one!"

Jerry looked a little hurt and asked, "Was I really that bad last night?"

Ranma scratched his head for a second and mumbled, "Well, no I mean- AHH! S-Stop talking! Just… Let me think about this for a second."

"Should I order us up some breakfast?"

Ranma answered her with a disgusted look of pain and before he ran back into the bathroom he shouted, "I screwed a transvestite!" with such a blatantly sharp tone of disgust. The door to the bathroom slammed and behind it was Ranma with a scrub pad trying to get rid of the dirty feeling.

Jerry got pissed and yelled at him through the door. "Hey! Don't make it sound like you did everything! I did half the work to you know!" A bloodcurdling scream followed with a violated cry of self-pity came from behind the door and in the shower was where he'd stay for the next two hours. He came out briefly for his clothes and there was Jerry still on the bed, with a robe on and watching the TV "Can I use the bathroom yet?" Ranma went back in without so much as a word and it was another half hour before he came out again and the only reason was because there was a knock on the door to the room.

Ranma was quick to answer it to make sure Jerry didn't do anything, but it was just a serving man. "Your fruit loops sir."

Without even knowing why, Ranma took the trays and paid the man. When he closed the door he looked at Jerry and asked, "When did you order this?"

"Around the time you started singing London Bridge in the shower. I think you're taking this whole situation completely the wrong way."

"Yeah, probably. How did you know I liked fruit loops?"

"Who doesn't?"

"True." Ranma handed Jerry her bowl and he started watching TV from the other side of the room.

"Why don't you come onto the bed?" Jerry patted the spot next to her with a warm smile and Ranma just cringed. "Come on. We need to talk about 'us'.

"How about not? There is no 'us' Jerry. I got drunk and you took advantage of me. I'm very bitter about this."

"First things first, you came onto me." Ranma shivered for a second but let it pass. "Look Ranma, it's time you started expressing yourself as you truly are. You're like me, you enjoy dressing up like I do."

Ranma's eye started twitching. "No I don't. I was happily engaged to a beautiful woman, twice I'd like to add, and any thoughts of a gay relationship has always been and always will be taboo to me."

Jerry got a sly smile on her face and walked over to Ranma. "So how come you went so far out of your way to look like a woman all those times? You have a body suite, you must for a figure like that, otherwise how do you do it?"

Ranma grabbed a vase sitting on a table and dumped the contents on his head, turning him to a her. Jerry looked at Ranma with a bit of shock and before he knew what was happening she was pulling open Ranma's pants. "H-hey!" Jerry got a good look and the pants snapped close. "I've got kind of a condition…"

Jerry grabbed Ranma right by the collar and went totally off topic for a second by yelling at her. "I spent 35 grand on reconstructive surgeries and am still saving for the big one! You mean there was an easier way?"

"Uhh, Jerry…?"

Then she stepped back for a second and pointed with a completely new expression. "Oh! I get it now! I was wondering were you went for a little while last night. I thought you were just some chick that came in looking for action. Man, how hammered were we?" The fruit loops dropped to the floor and much like Ranma's dignity and self worth, the bowl shattered and with a tear in her eye she walked back into the bathroom where the shower turned on again. Jerry looked at the door and scratched her head. "What?"

As the water beat down on him he had his head against the wall mumbling, "I always thought it would have been Akane, or Sheela that talked me into it… But never… Oh, god…" After he repeated it a few times he started chewing on a bar of soap for some reason. This lasted for about an hour.

It ended when Jerry walked into the bathroom and started to undress. "You've been hogging it long enough."

"ARGH!" Ranma ran out and into the hallway in his now wet clothes and making for the ground floor. Ever nine seconds as he road the elevator he'd pull a full body spasm and look around nervously. For some reason he really wanted to see either Ukyo or Akane, and since Ukyo was closer he made his way to the kitten club.

When he got there Hikori was talking to Mousse about something in the back room of the club and Hikori couldn't help but notice Ranma's expression. "What happened to you?"

Ranma looked at him with kind of an empty expression and asked without any real tone, "If you woke up one morning with a condom hanging out your ass, would you tell any one?"

Hikori's smoke dropped and his mouth hung open. "No… What-"

"Me neither…" And with that Ranma turned and started heading for Ukyo's room.

Mousse looked puzzled for a moment and his eyes went wide. "What happened to him?"

Hikori stamped out his smoke and recovered. "N-nothing. Forget it man, it's probably for the best if we don't mention anything to anyone."

Mousse nodded catching his drift. "O-ok."

About twenty minutes passed and Ranma came out looking as normal as ever. He walked over to Hikori and asked, "Ok, so what's on the agenda today?"

Hikori looked him up and down for a second and gave him a look of concern. "Are you ok man? Anything you want to talk about?"

"No, I'm cool."

Ukyo walked out of the room with a large soaked mark on her shirt. "Are you going to tell me why you grabbed me and started crying uncontrollably?"

"Nope. I just needed a support buddy for a minute."

Ukyo looked a little confused with that one. "Ok… Glad I could help… I guess."

"Okay…" Hikori didn't know how else to change the conversation except with an outright change in coarse. "So what did Mr. 982 say last night?"

Ranma thought about it through his hangover and eventually came up with, "Well, not as much as I'd hoped for. He was just one of Timmy's big time buyers, but all he bought was for himself only. The guy was in a permanent state of being completely strung out, and all he could tell me was something about a guy that delivered and nothing more."

Ukyo was left in the dark as usual and needed light. "Well what was he all about then? Who was the delivery guy? Is he important?"

Ranma just lied and said, "Not really. All I got out of him was that he was Timmy's special guest and that was about it. I was hoping he'd be a little more important, but he was just a junkie with a lot of money." Ranma tapped his foot for a few seconds in thought and looked at Hikori. "How about you? I woke up a little late this morning, anything new."

"I do have something that'll knock your socks off. Word on the streets say that Jasper's heard about his casino, or lack there of, and he's a little irritated."

Ranma looked a little taken back, but he kept his cool. "Is he coming here?"

"He's arriving some time today, with a couple of people. Sorry, but it's not on a private jet or anything and without knowing what the guy even looks like we can't really attempt to take him out."

"Damn…" Ranma crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Do we know who called him?"

Hikori shook his head and shrugged. "No, but more then twenty guys I've asked today say he's coming and he knows what's happened…" Hikori paused for a second and tapped his fingers on the wall across from Ranma. "He knows you're here and what happened to Timmy. Everybody does."

Ukyo was feeling left out so she made her presence felt. "Who's Timmy again?"

Ranma's strange calm creped her out a little, but she didn't mention it. "Jasper's brother. I killed him a couple weeks ago, and threw his head through a window. I wasn't exactly in a stable state of mind at the time though."

"Oh…"

Hikori got off the subject again and placed it somewhere else. "Anyways, that's one of the things Mousse and I were talking about. Jasper's pissed and he's bringing some real bad dudes with him."

"How bad are they?"

"No clue whatsoever. This is just hearsay from the streets and few guys running for their lives. Mousse seems to think a certain surgeon is with Jasper."

Ranma shook his head with disappointment. "Wishful thinking. I don't think a doctor like that would be kicking around beside Jasper twenty-four seven, but I have been proved wrong before."

"What makes you think he wouldn't?"

Ranma shrugged, "What makes you think he would? I just can't see why Jasper would go to the trouble of bringing him here. Seems kind of pointless and I know I shouldn't say it, but I haven't seen any of my friends pregnant lately."

"Yeah, I guess you're right… What do you th-" Hikori stopped and looked around for Ukyo. "Where'd she go?"

Ranma looked around as well. "Wow, she's good at that."

Ukyo was in her room tapping her foot and fuming when Ranma arrived. "Well are you two done?"

Ranma got a nervous smile happening and took a seat on the couch. "Sorry, I didn't mean to blow you off there. When me and him talk business nothing else in the world seems to matter."

"I'm just feeling a little used right now. You ball your eyes out on me and don't even say why."

Ranma wiped a hand across his face, got up and got close to her with a quiet voice to her ear. "Look, I got drunk last night and woke up next to Jerry this morning, and in that room is enough evidence to flood a cabinet with paper work with solid proof of what happened." His voice was secretive and the way he struggled to get the words out were beyond Ukyo.

"Oh… Well it's nothing to be ashamed of. She is a… Well she's an attractive woman." It felt strange having this conversation with Ranma for some reason, but she was about to get an eye opener in just a few seconds.

"Jerry's a transvestite."

Ukyo froze for a moment to let that sink in and when her eyes went wide with realization she put her arms around him. "Oh, sugar… I'm sorry…"

"You see why I didn't want to say this in front of Hikori, or anyone for that matter, right?"

"Yeah. You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to."

"Wasn't planning to."

Then another strange thought crossed Ukyo's mind. She was currently comforting the guy that was going to personally kill her fiancé. She wanted to let go, but not make it seem weird at the same time. She'd just placed herself in an oddly uncomfortable spot and she needed something to get rid of it, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Hey do you think I should open up a restaurant again?"

Ranma looked away unsure of where that came from, but it probably had some sort of deep meaning to her that he couldn't comprehend. "Uhh… Sure." He thought about it for a second and then snapped his fingers. "Oh, why you set it up right in the casino?"

'I can't believe that worked.' Ukyo thought, but without missing a beat she said, "The casino? How can I afford that kind of real-estate?"

Ranma looked at her for a second and asked, "You helped in the heist, right?"

"Well, yeah a little bit. What're you gettin' at sugar?"

"Ukyo, we all own that casino now. I have a share, Hikori has a share, mom and dad have a share and you have a share as well. Every one that helped gets a share. We all own a piece of that casino."

"Oh… Oh! I thought that Bugsy guy owned it?"

Ranma waved his finger pointed back at himself and at her. "He's the boss of the employees, but it's our casino."

Ukyo stood shocked for a moment and finally came up with, "So I own a casino?"

"Part of it, yes." She was starting to ride his patients, but he held out.

"So how much will renting out a section cost?"

Ranma stayed silent for a moment and just looked at her. "Ukyo. You own a share in the casino. You won't have to pay rent, nor will you have to worry about bills. Just tell Bugsy where you want to set up and you'll be up in no time."

"What about material costs?"

"Ukyo…" Ranma held his tongue and thought for a moment. 'Calm down… She's new to this.' Ranma rubbed his forehead with a little irritation, but spoke calmly. "You don't get it yet, do you?"

Ukyo stood still trying to figure it out. "What?"

"We're multimillionaires. There was two hundred and ninety-seven million in the vault, and that doesn't even come close to what we scammed the owner into giving Bugsy as inheritance." THUD "Ukyo…? Hey you okay?"

Ukyo got back up to her feet with a hand to her chest breathing hard and put the other hand on a table for support. "I-I think I need to um sit, yeah, sit down for a second s-sugar."

Ranma looked at her and pointed with a very calm concern. "You're looking a little flustered there, you need something to drink?"

"No. Yeah. Something… Did you just say two hundred and ninety-seven million?" She screamed more then she asked.

Ranma nodded down once with a smile. "Yes. As Hikori put it, we are currently rolling in the dough. I was planning on tossing about three hundred grand on the floor sometime this afternoon and roll around on it. How about you?"

"Does anyone else know this?"

Ranma started leading her out of the room and towards where the drinks were in the bar. "Nope, we were all going to tell every one the good news eventually. The thing is that if we told every one now, it might spawn some sort of mass spending spree, so this is just between you and me for now."

"I can't feel my legs sugar…"

"Yeah, that tends to happen when you get a boat load of money without knowing it. Do you have that crawling feeling in your chest yet?"

She practically jumped on him and held him tight. "We're rich!"

"Yup."

"I want you to name my restaurant. Ok?"

Ranma chuckled lightly. "Sure thing, leave it to me."

Then Ukyo realized that she had just thrown herself back into that uncomfortable position that she'd tried so hard to get out of. 'Awe, nuts…'

After feeling a little better, Ranma decided to grab Jerico and man himself up over at Boris's strip club, but he wanted to go more because he wanted to squeeze Paul for some information again. The drive there was pleasant until Jerico said something that brought the car to a screeching halt. "So I heard you came out of the closet man, congrats."

**SCREEEEEEECH!**

Jerico whacked his head on the dashboard, but before he could hold in head Ranma had him by the shirt. "I don't know what Jerry told you, but lets get this clear right now, I never came out of the closet and last night I was extremely drunk."

"So, what? You're a closet queen? Jerry was too for the longest-" The passenger side door opened and Jerico was tossed out of the vehicle. "ARGH!" Jerico hit the concrete and slowly got up. "Jerry was this violent about it too…"

"I am NOT gay!"

Jerico rubbed his neck as he sat in the street. "So how come you always dress up like a girl?"

Ranma pulled a water bottle out of the back seat and dumped the contents on himself. "I've got a condition!"

Jerico stared for a few seconds at the clear and apparent change. "So… Are you a dude or a chick?"

Ranma's eyes became lazy and a twitch developed above her eye. "You get to walk the rest of the way." Ranma shut the door on Jerico and blasted down the remaining three blocks to the club.

A car honked at Jerico but he just kept sitting there. "I am so confused…"

Ranma didn't wait up for Jerico and walked in same as always, but something wasn't right. Music was playing, but there were no strippers, there was no one sitting with their drinks, let alone anyone at all in the strip joint. She looked around with a cautious eye and noticed that the usual bouncer was on the ground and didn't look all that alive. She started walking in slowly with her gun drawn and as she started passing the stage, raised voices were heard over the music.

Ranma couldn't make out a damn word of what they were saying, but it didn't sound like they were just shooting the breeze. A man was yelling something harsh and his voice sounded pretty fucking intimidating. It was coming from the back room that was for sure and if anyone was going to be getting info from either Boris or Paul, it was sure as hell going to her.

She put her back to the wall and crept close to the door with her gun close to her head. In her head she counted to three and with a kick to the door, pushed it open, but before she could aim a man in a black suit jacket had already drawn and with a perfect shot picked the heater right out of her hands. Ranma watched in astonishment as the gun flew past her head, but what really got her was the man coming at her before she could react. A stiff hand caught her around the throat and started squeezing hard. As Ranma turned blue a warm barrel pressed against her forehead and a calm, but almost crazy voice asked, "Who are you? A cop?"

Ranma's eyes were getting ready to roll back in their sockets but she heard Boris start yelling something and felt the energy to stay conscious just a little longer. "No! Don't kill her! She's just a stripper, leaver her out of this! She didn't know any better!"

The gun left her head and the man pointed it in Boris's direction. "Shut up. I'm done with you." The man let loose four shots, and sent Boris to the floor covered in blood. Ranma's face was red struggling to get a breath in and that's when the man started loosening his grip. He still held her by the neck, but slammed his hand against the wall beside her head with the smoking gun still in it.

Ranma looked hard at his face through drowsy eyes. A long face with yellow eyes and a high forehead and on top was black hair with gray strands mixed in. The way he looked at her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand right up on end and his dawning smile showed just how crazy he was. He held her chin hard and rolled her head from side to side to get a good look, once he was done he pulled her forward and slammed her back against the wall again. "You better forget my face, or yours will end up on the back of a milk carton. Get it?" He threw her to the ground and started walking off with a couple of guys that played no part.

She watched them walk through the club and right out the front door without any fear. Ranma reached for her gun and slowly got up rubbing her throat. She looked at the ground where Boris was laying and went over to him to roll him over. When she did she found he wasn't dead yet. His eyes opened a little to see Ranma and he smiled. "H-hey kid… Sorry I couldn't do much more…"

She sat him up and leaned him against a couch he had set up. "It's ok Boris. You did good… You want a smoke?"

"Sure…"

Ranma reached into her pants for Hikori's smokes and lit one for him. "Thanks, Sheela… Or was it Ranko…? Yeah…"

"Who was that guy?"

Boris took a slow puff of the smoke and coughed a little. "That's someone you shouldn't be messing with… If I tell you promise me something, ok missy?"

"What?"

The smoke fell out of his mouth and he watched it start to burn a hole in his shirt. Ranma took it off and put it back in his mouth. "Thanks… That's the guy you're brother's looking for… Jasper… Someone must have tipped him off that I help him or something…" Boris coughed a few more times and looked up at the ceiling. "Damn…"

"My brother'll get him for ya. You just took a bullet for me Boris. You've got more balls then I thought." Ranma put an arm around his shoulder and sat there with him.

"Thanks missy… That means a lot coming from you…" Boris started to relax and close his eyes, but a thought shot through his head and he looked forward with eyes wide open. "Shit… You have to go babe…"

Ranma caught the urgent tone in Boris's voice and asked. "What's wrong?" Boris almost got to his feet, but he fell back down with a shout of pain. "Boris! What's wrong?"

"Babe… You guys were working with Bugsy right?"

"Yeah."

Boris's breathing started to become rough. "He knows Bugsy helped with the Casino job… Every one knows… His little girl… She's in trouble…"

"Marci! What's happening Boris! Tell me!"

Boris grabbed onto Ranma's shirt and spoke fast with breaks in his speech. "That little girl… Jasper's going to get her and send her to Chuck Palmer!" Boris coughed again but held on tight. "I've never been a smart man I'll admit, but… I know a sick fucking freak when I see one… Tell Bugsy, Marci's in danger… Tell him…! If there's one thing I want to do right in my life it's this… Save her before that son of a bitch lays a hand on her!" Boris found the last of his strength and pushed Ranma to her feet. "Get out of here kid! Find Chuck Palmer! Find him! Before… before…"

"I'll find him Boris. Sit tight I'll have some one come get you."

"Forget about me… There's no time… Tell you brother… Tell him…"

Ranma ran out of the room and into the bar and as she did Boris slumped forward and hit the ground cold and dead with his face stretched across the floor and eyes still opened.

-

-

(The Hollies – Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress: The next chapter's going to be my Halloween special and it's going to be sick. I'll have it up in time.)


	20. Chainsaw Charlie

Chainsaw Charlie

Ranma grabbed Jerico just as she left the club and pulled him roughly towards the car she parked on the side of the street. "Huh? What's going on, are we in shit or something?"

"Have you ever heard of Chuck Palmer?"

Jerico looked back in his thoughts and said, "The name rings a bell, but-"

"Boris just told me Marci could be in danger."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Bugsy's little girl? Where is she?"

"I don't know, but you're going to call Bugsy and I'm taking us to his ex-wife's place. Get on it." Ranma tossed him a cell phone and Jerico started punching in numbers as Ranma floored it and pulled a quick twist in the street.

"Bugsy, it's Jerico. No shut the fuck up for a minute. Where's Marci?" Jerico waited as Bugsy told him that she should be at home. "Call there and see if any one's home. Ranma what was the name?"

"Chuck Palmer."

"If no one answers look into someone named-" Jerico pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at Ranma with concern. "He hung up…"

"I don't blame him, hold onto your shit I'm going to start driving pretty fucking fast." Ranma hit the gas down to the floor and started taking chances around corners and between lanes. Once she got the car outside the house she pulled the e-brake and just got out as the car came to a stop on it's own. Jerico got out after it slowed down a little for him and he ran behind Ranma.

Jerico ran through the already open front gate and up the walkway to see some bad news. "The door's been kicked open…" They ran in and there were bodies on the floor. A bunch of rent-a-cops laid dead with bullet holes in them and there bodies made a trail heading upstairs.

Ranma pulled out her gun and ran up. "Marci! You here! Answer me!" Ranma pushed open the door to her room to see bookshelves knocked over and dolls everywhere. "Marci! Jerico get the other rooms!"

They both made a quick search around the house, but no one was alive and Marci wasn't hiding anywhere. They ran back downstairs and that's when Ranma's phone rang. Jerico answered and said, "This better be important… No she ain't here." Ranma could hear Bugsy's voice rip its way out of the speaker and across the room screaming and yelling bloody murder. "Bugsy calm the fuck down! Where are you?" Jerico looked at Ranma, "He's driving here now."

Ranma snatched the phone out of his hand and said, "Bugsy listen to me. Do you know who Chuck Palmer is, or where he might be?"

On the other end it was clear throughout the room that Bugsy yelled, "Chuck Fucking Palmer? Stay there!"

The call ended and Ranma put the phone away, but Jerico saw something they ran past before. It was a note on the coffee table saying 'play' with a tape recorder on top of it. Jerico picked it up and hit the button to turn the gears. The message started with a distorted squeal at the beginning and the quality was horrid.

The voice of a man that sounded like his throat was full of phlegm started talking away with a sort of egotistical half giggle in his speech. 'Hello Bugsy. This is Chuck, you're worst fuckin' nightmare. Word has it you pissed off Jasper, and you know what that means… I get to play with your daughter. Don't worry though Bugsy.' The voice started laughing with the short jittery breaths of a man that'd done some horrible things in his time and really got off on it. 'I'm gonna be real gentle with this one. My god… what a sexy little angel she is. I was never told how pretty she was. Her and I are gonna play doctor and after that who knows. You wouldn't believe the things I can do without killing someone. I had this one lady going for almost two weeks once. Awake, kickin' and screamin', until there wasn't anything left to cut out, but her fucking heart. I'm gonna level with ya Bugsy. It's not the cutting that gets me off; it's what I do with the little pieces later that really turns my crank. You should see it. It's fuckin' beautiful. Maybe I'll mail her back to ya one of these days. So say goodbye to your dad kid, you're my little Barbie now.' Something was heard being knocked over and a struggle was heard with Chuck yelling, 'Get over here!' and ended with Marci's voice coming out of cries. 'Papa! Papa!'

Ranma stepped back and with a scream she kicked the table into the air and seven feet across the room. "Sick son of bitch! Jerico! You stay here and wait for Bugsy. I've got my phone with me and I'm going to be making some calls. Make sure Bugsy thinks with his head, alright?"

"Yeah, just go."

Ranma bolted back into the car and called up Willis on his home phone. His wife answered and Ranma ordered her to get him immediately. Willis came on the line sounding confused. "Willis! It's Ranma listen. What do you know about Chuck Palmer?"

Willis scratched his head and thought back. "Chuck… Chuck Palmer! Came here from the US and has been in hiding ever since. Uhh… He's on the most wanted list for uhh… Christ, I can't- what do you want with Chuck Palmer?"

"He's got Bugsy's kid and he left him a really fucked up message. Where can I find this guy? What does he do? Where might I find him? Anything."

"H-he's got another victim? His file is at the station, but technically I'm not a cop right now, so-"

"Then be a fucking cop. I'm heading to your place, so get ready." Ranma hit a back ally she'd seen before and burst down it like a bat out of hell. Boxes and trashcans hit the hood and bounced off the windshield until Ranma hit the streets again sliding around the corner and almost nailing another car. Once again Ranma pulled the e-brake and left the car right in the middle of the road as she got out in front of the Detective's house.

He opened the door while getting his coat on and ran to Ranma with an utterly pissed look on his face. "I just called the station and asked about the case, but I should have known."

"Known what?"

He waved Ranma towards his car and this time he was going to be driving. "They've got dirty cops all over his case, that's why he hasn't been caught yet. I called up the station on an emergency line, but they just told me an anonymous tip wasn't going to be enough."

"Did you drop my name?"

"Yeah, they said it was just someone playing a prank. We take anonymous tips all the fucking time!" He hit the steering wheel hard with his fist and started heading for the station. "I don't know how we're gonna get those files, but I've seen you pull off miracles before."

Ranma checked her ammo count and slid the clip back into her gun. "Just tell me where to go and who I should shoot."

"If you pull your piece in there you won't be coming out. I know we don't have time, but we need those files without fail. Chuck is said to work quick unless it's a special victim, so you're going to have to work quick too. If they see me they'll know I'm up to something. I don't know why you dress up like a woman, and quite frankly I don't care, but it's going to be our saving trump card." He tossed his pager into Ranma's lap and asked for her phone. "I'll send you messages on where to go and where you can get yourself a disguise." Willis pulled the car up across the street and put it in park. "Hurry up, ok."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

Marci looked up to see rusty pipes and dirty walls covered with mildew in the boiler room she was tied down in. A light on the ceiling hung loosely from its cord and swung slowly to the breeze coming in from the vents. The yellow light crept back and forth coming to her legs and wondering off into the dark room. Her heart started beating as she heard the stray drops of water hit a black puddle somewhere close by. The place stunk like motor oil and something else that made her sick.

Something from across the room was heard skittering across the pavement with little clicks and clacks coming from clawed feet. She started shaking wanting to call out for her papa, but the feeling of worms crawling through her gut and pulling steel hooks behind them put a gag in her speech. Her heart kept racing and the breathing through her nose became jagged until something made her hold her breath.

The sound of a metal door creaked open and a line of light pooled in through the doorway. A large shadowy man walked through pulling a rattling cart behind him and the darkness filled the gap when the door closed. The rattle came close to her and stopped just before the light of the swaying lamp. Sharp metal things started scrapping against each other and the man started humming to himself. Marci started to shake hard with tears forming in her eyes. The man stopped when he heard her sniff and spoke with a menacing tone. "You afraid little girl? You shouldn't be… A beautiful little angel like you doesn't deserve to cry. We're gonna have tons of fun, I promise. You like nursery rhymes…? I love them." He let out a laugh and started singing a little off key with bouncy words. "Half a pound of tuppany rice, half a pound of treacle, that's the way the money goes, pop goes the weasel. You like it?"

The tune made her skin feel clammy and the pit of her stomach bubble in disgust. "W-where's m-my papa…?"

The man stepped into the light enough to show his ripped jeans, dirty grease stained beater, and hairy arms. The scars on his skin and thick strands of thread were all evidence of self-mutilation. His arms held scabs filled with pus like infection and the fresh cuts going down his forearms told what he must have been doing only moments ago. When the light swayed across his face it briefly revealed a fat smiling man with a face too small for his own head. His eyes were close together with a pushed up nose and thick outstanding lips, in which his bottom one was bloody with trails dripping off his chin from chewing on it. "You're papa's far far away. It's just you and me. We-We get to play and have fun together!" His chuckles became high pitched as he became excited and started touching his crotch. "Y-You want to watch me build a fort? We can put all my toys in it!"

"…No…" Marci looked away and closed her eyes trying to forget his staring red eyes.

Ranma walked out of the station with a fast step, now looking like a man with a uniform on and a stack of papers under his arm. A couple of cops stepped out to stop him, but he was out and home free, so without a second though pulled out his gun and got them both in the legs. He ran to Willis's car and got in. "Drive!"

Willis gunned it out of there and Ranma started flipping through the pages. Willis reached over and grabbed the papers he knew would be important and started skimming through them as he took corners and parked in someone's drive way. Soon some cop cars with flashers went by and Willis hit his steering wheel again. "Jesus Christ… No goddamn locations…"

"Well you are a detective. Figure it out!" Ranma was growing impatient and started looking at some highlighted areas. "It says here he likes to cut them up, nothing new there. Where were all his other crime scenes?"

Willis went through the papers. "Uhh…" He found some highlighted areas as well and said, "Basements. One was in a museum… Another in a storage area of a lumber mill… and…" He picked through some more papers and said, "His latest scene was here in Japan at an old abandoned home out in the middle of nowhere."

"What's the pattern?"

"A public place, a work area, and an old house. The only connection is that they were all in a basement of some kind that wasn't really checked on by anybody."

Ranma kicked the dashboard and yelled, "Fuck! That could be fucking anywhere!"

"It's our first lead kid. All his other sites were in the US so give me a minute to make a call." Ranma started rubbing his head in frustration and did the last thing he wanted to do. He waited. Willis started hitting more buttons then normal, it was an international call. Willis started giving information to an operator such as his badge number and whatnot, and finally he asked the operator to put a man on the line. "Detective Norman Hamilton."

"He can help us?"

"He was my partner when I was working in Manhattan. It's been a while, but I'm sure he'll help an old friend."

"Is he clean?"

"The straightest arrow I've ever met. It's too bad really…" Willis went quiet for a few seconds and the low tone of a voice came onto the line. "Norm? Hey, it's me Wally." Willis let out a quick laugh but hurried it up. "Yeah, I'm doing good, but no time for formalities. I'm in a tight squeeze and need some help right now." Willis sighed. "Yeah, I know it's late there, but this is about Chuck Palmer. I'm stuck on his trail and need to know-" Willis was cut off and he started looking confused. "What do you mean…?" Ranma looked at Willis with a raised eyebrow, but Willis went back to talking. "I can't explain it then. Please, just pull up his file for me I know he's here… Ok, I'll wait…"

"What's wrong?"

Willis put his hand over the speaker and said, "Chuck Palmer was sent to Texas and got an express seat on death row. Apparently he was executed six months ago, but we've had the case on our shelves for over eight."

Ranma looked annoyed. "Well what does that mean?"

"It means that our paperwork doesn't match up. In the US, he was sent to prison a year ago and put in the front of the line to be executed, but at the same time he's been here causing only god knows what."

"That doesn't make any sense… Who the hell would take an electric chair for him?"

Willis looked down at the paper work again and finally came out with, "He could be a copy cat killer…"

Ranma looked out the window and the cogs started turning, "Or they executed the copy cat…"

Willis was brought back onto the line. "Hey… No I don't have a fax, just read out anything you see on his crime scenes. We need to know where to look… Damn right it's urgent."

The man with sickly, yellowish, dead looking skin sat on a chair across from Marci, just starting at her. He'd been doing it for the past ten minutes and she was starting to feel violated with the way he looked at her. If she hadn't of watched him unfold a chair and sit in it, she could have sworn he was a mannequin. His eyes never left her; they just kept looking directly into her little blue eyes. "You know what little girl? I can do magic tricks. You want to see a magic trick?"

Marci shook her head scared and broke eye contact with him. The man got out of his chair and got right into her face with his rank hot breath. "What's wrong little girl? You don't like me? I like you. I want to be your friend and tell you all my secrets. I want to tell you about all my little perversions that get me off. I want to tell you about the time I shot a rock of cocaine right into my cock and fucked the shit out of this bitch I killed. God I love cold women… Hey… I've got a doggy… Wanna pet my doggy…?" His eyes had gone crazed and he was still picking at his crotch through his pants.

Marci kicked him in the face and screamed, "NO!"

His lip was made bloody, but he just smiled at her as he pushed the blood around in his mouth. "C'mon, it's a real nice doggy. I promise it won't bite." His belt started coming off and Marci just went into a crazed panic of kicking and screaming.

Willis finished writing down on a note pad and was now off the line. "All his crime scenes had one thing in common. They all had a boiler room and they were either abandoned, or temporarily shut down places."

Ranma shook his head in irritation and hit the dashboard again. "It still doesn't fucking help us. That's a wide fucking range."

"Think that all you want, but boilers aren't all that popular around here and are only really used in apartment blocks."

"Still-" Ranma's phone went off and he answered it quickly. "Yo."

Jerry's voice came out the other end and he was irate. "You better have fucking found Marci!"

"We're looking and we need to move quick. We've narrowed it down to boiler rooms, and abandoned buildings."

"That's not a shit load of help you god damn retard!"

"Deal with it, it's the best we've got, now start looking." Ranma hung up and rubbed his head. "There's got to be a better way to do this then just go door to door to every fucking place with a boiler room."

Willis passed him a look and asked, "Have you got connections deep underground?"

"Hell yeah. What do you suggest?"

Willis thought for a moment. "A shit load of crooks and a reward."

Ranma didn't even wait to think about it, he just called up Bugsy and after a few rings, Bugsy answered. "What?"

"It's Ranma."

"Have you found her?"

"No, look I need you to do something and do it fast. Go to the Casino, drop all our business lines and redirect them to a private emergency line. After that call every last lowlife, big time, I don't fucking care what kind of crook and send out a five million dollar reward for any one that comes to us with successful info on Chuck Palmer's whereabouts. Something's bound to come up and if the location given doesn't have a boiler room and is abandoned then ignore it."

"But!"

"Bugsy, shut the fuck up and do as I tell you. Our best bet is a location with these qualities. This is the best I can do for you right now. Every time something comes up call all of us looking for her and tell us where to go. Got it?"

"Y-yeah! The first place you should check is the Furikan High school. They've been closed for a week and have a boiler."

"Good, we'll go there first." Ranma hung up and waved the detective forward. "The high school. Let's go."

The sun was setting outside, but Marci couldn't tell. The room was completely cut off from the outside and the only thing to comfort her was a man on the ground screaming like a baby. "Why won't you pet the fucking doggy? Why don't you like me you little fucking bitch?" The man got up with his belt wrapped around his fist and gave Marci a stern fist across the face. She fell over on her side and stared crying hard. The braces in her mouth cut her lips and cheek like razors and fire inside her, but she didn't have enough time to think about it or comfort herself. The large hairy man just got on top of her and started wailing on her with his belt. It struck her across the face relentlessly leaving deep cuts and bruises in its wake. Guiding it was a crazed lunatic screaming in her face every time he struck. "WHY WON'T YOU PET THE FUCKING DOGGY? WHAT FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU? I'LL BEAT THE FUCK OUT OF YA AND RAPE YA IF I HAVE TO YOU DUMB LITTLE WHORE! JUST PET THE FUCKING DOGGY!"

Marci was getting ready to pass out, but the thing that kept her awake was knowing what the man would do to her if she did, so she took it and held on the best she could with the back of her head hitting the cold concrete floor. The man stopped beating her and got up to do something, giving Marci a short amount of time to collect herself and cry some more. Blood started drooling out of her mouth, but she sat up and buried her head between her legs to dry her tears, but without hearing the man coming back, something really cold and wet poured over her. It was the smell of gasoline and it made her dizzy. "Want me to light you on fire! Huh? Is that what it's going to take!" He kicked her over with a dirty boot to her ribs and pulled out a lighter. "ANSWER ME!"

All she wanted to do now was pass out, but the screaming in the back of her brain and the fire she felt in her cuts kept her awake with her eyes rolling back in their sockets as she shook violently trying to get that cold feeling off of her skin.

It was dark out now and Ranma slammed the door behind him as he left an old rundown office building. "We aren't getting fucking anywhere with this bullshit! That's five places we've checked and no word from the others!"

Willis grabbed Ranma and shoved him back into the car. "And we aren't going to find that little girl if you keep bitching! We have to keep moving or else we're screwed!" Willis planted his ass back into the drivers seat and gunned it towards the next location. "You fucking kids give up too fast." Willis suddenly clutched the steering wheel hard and let out a quick shout of pain while he grabbed his chest. "Fuck…"

"What the hell's with you?"

Willis breathed heavy for a few moments and kept driving straight. "Sorry kid… Just got too excited…"

Ranma looked at Willis hard and then down at his hands. "I'm not giving up… I just feel so fucking responsible for her… God only knows what that freak is-"

"Don't talk like that till you know for sure. Don't you dare talk like that. You said he was going to take his time with her, so there's still hope. With five million up for grabs there's bound to be-" Ranma's phone rang and he picked up before Willis could finish his speech.

"What is it?"

Jerry was on the line again and he sounded odd. "I think I found him…"

"Where?"

"My old hideout at the docks… It smells like death in this joint… Your buddy Paul tipped me off. Its… Listen, I called Bugsy as well so, just get over here, this place reeks of bodies…"

"I'll be there right away! He's dangerous, so just wait till we get there!"

"Like hell I will. If you want to help then move your ass Ranma."

Ranma hung up the phone and made Willis pull over. "We've got a lead, I'll take us I know a shortcut!"

"About fucking time you stopped bitching kid."

The man was sitting on Marci's chest stroking her hair softly. "I'm sorry little girl… I didn't mean to get mad like that… I just wanted you to pet the doggy, is that so much to ask?" Marci was on the ground alive, breathing, and awake, but covered in blood from the abuse dealt to her. Her braces held her teeth in well, but at this point it would have been better if they were all just knocked out. She still smelt of gasoline and felt cold except for the burning cuts she had. "Are you going to pet the doggy now…?"

Marci heard the question and with the rest of her strength tried to spit in his face, but it only made it to his shirt. "Bad little girls get punished…" He pulled out a sharp little knife and held her face tight enough to bring her jaw to the breaking point. He held her face still and slid the blade across her cheek and about half way across she squealed loudly and started kicking her feet. "When little girls are bad it makes me just want to split my knuckles across their pretty little faces!" He dropped the knife and decked her again, but when he pulled back for another swing someone grabbed his arm and smashed the side of his head with something hard. He rolled off holding his head and Jerry was on top of him swinging hard with the fury of hell in her fists.

Though Jerry looked like a woman, he fought like a man with a barbaric rage and hard hits. "Son of bitch mother fucker! I'll fucking kill ya!" Jerry came down again and again with the butt of her gun against Chuck's face until all he could do was roll away and start crawling fast for his cart. Again Jerry was on top of him and his face slammed against the cart knocking it over along with all its supplies. Chuck managed to stick her in the arm with something sharp and rusty, but she didn't bother taking it out, she just rammed her gun into his eye socket and yelled. "Die asshole!"

Before she could pull the trigger Chuck's hand came up, flipped on the safety and started pushing it back against her arms. His other hand came up and wrapped around her throat, but she was on a mission of murder. After the pushing contest ended Jerry got thrown back and Chuck came at her with the gun. "I love it when a bitch plays rough…" He shot her in the arm and reached down on the ground for something special. Jerry was on the ground cradling her arm, but Chuck ended that with a solid deck across the face and a long thick needle to the neck.

Jerry gasped and her body tensed as she felt a foreign fluid enter her blood. Her feet started feeling light and her head dizzy until she slumped over with glassy eyes and a numb body. Her head rolled without feeling and she saw Chuck holding her chin and smiling down at her. "Have you got friends coming? I bet you do. I guess I better decorate ya for the occasion." His small face now bloody opened his mouth wide to let out a sick coughing laugh. Jerry's head slumped to the side and she watched the light above swaying slowly as she was dragged close to Marci.

When Jerry was tossed beside Marci, the little girl leaned and fell onto Jerry's chest and held her shoulders tight. "Aunt Jerry… Don't die… Papa's coming…" Tears fell from her eyes and Jerry heard the voice echo though her head like a bad hangover, but she could barely move her eyes, let alone a hand to comfort the child. The next thing she heard was a loud hissing sound of a boiler starting up and then she saw the ceiling move again, with Marci's voice screaming.

Ranma pulled up beside Jerry's car and pulled out his gun. "She wasn't kidding… This place smells fucking horrible."

Willis pulled out his piece and got out. "Be careful kid, I've got a bad feeling."

"Who doesn't?" The door was left open and Ranma let himself in. The sound of a large machine turning huge cogs was heard across the warehouse and with it came a rumble that made the bodies hanging off the ceiling swing back and forth from their hooks. "Jesus fuck!"

Willis looked up above the lights the see the shadowy corpses swinging in place and he covered his mouth. "Safety off Ranma… We've got the place all right…"

Willis tossed Ranma a flashlight to see into the dark, but he started to wish he hadn't. Ranma saw flowerpots set up on wooden tables with hands and other limps sticking out of them. Most had strings coming off the fingers and toes bending the bones and warping them like bonsai trees of rotting flesh. The corpse of a woman was set on a platform with metal rods coming out of her joints and holding her in place like a ballet dancer. Her skin seemed to move on its own, but it was the maggots eating her from the inside out that gave the illusion. Writing on the walls were all etched in blood stating that god was dead and hell was on earth in the manifestation of what the two saw before them. Ranma went to his knees and threw up on the ground where he started breathing hard with a beating heart.

Willis handed him his handkerchief and got him back to his feet. "Remember the girl Ranma. Don't look at these things. Get up and do it for her."

Ranma wiped his mouth with a nod and started stepping deeper into the nightmare. Big black disease infested flies buzzed around in areas Ranma didn't want to look in until he saw a doorway leading down to a boiler room in the basement. He opened the door and the sound of the large machine downstairs got louder and louder. Willis grabbed his chest again and kneeled down with that same quick shriek of pain. Ranma looked down the stairwell into the darks and said, "Don't worry old man. I'll go on ahead, make sure he doesn't come up if he gets away from me."

Willis shook off the pain and got back to his feet. "Shut up kid… You're not going down there alone…"

Ranma patted Willis on the back and said, "…I was hoping you'd say that. Let's go…"

Ranma pointed his flashlight down the winding stairs stepping softly on the rusty metal floor. He passed by a small window that showed nothing outside, but the sound of waves could be heard over the creeping contraption downstairs. Willis followed behind him with his flashlight pointing up the way they came to make sure no one was following them. With each step towards the only rusted door in the hallway Ranma's heart pick up in pace and his hands started to shiver. He kept his presence quiet and with a brave hand he creaked the door open slowly and peeked in through the crack he made. A single light was lit in the room swaying back and forth slowly with the boiler roaring steaming hell. Ranma pushed Willis back gently and gave him a signal to wait a second. Ranma opened the door some more and started shining the light all around across the walls. He stopped when he saw Marci laying there twitching on the ground and with a careful step he went to her and rolled her over.

She was black and blue all over with cuts and her eyes couldn't seem to focus that well. Her little arm made an attempt to reach up for him but it fell back to her chest and she turned her head to the side. "…Aunt… Jerry…"

Ranma tilted his flashlight up to the fence around the boiler to see Jerry hanging there wrapped in barbed wire with her arms stretched out and a vacant look in her eyes. Her normal gray suit was now ripped to shreds and her shirt was wide-open showing cuts all over her stomach and chest. Ranma waved Willis in and started taking a look at Jerry. She was still alive but her mind was somewhere far away. "Jerry. Hey!"

Willis took care of Marci and started checking for good signs, but there weren't too many. She was getting cold to the touch and trembling where she laid. "I think she'll pull through, but-" A gun shot went off and a spray of blood shot out of his chest. He went down screaming and when Ranma finished turning he saw a man hiding behind the door with a gun in his hand and a chainsaw in the other. His smile was crazed and filled with blood, but what Ranma realized right away was that Chuck wasn't aiming for him, but down low at Marci.

Ranma went down and covered her and that's when that familiar feeling hit him. A bullet tore through his body and sat lodged and boiling inside him. Ranma tried to pull up his gun in retaliation, but Chuck sent a bullet through his shoulder and with a run he kicked the pistol out of his hand. Chuck pulled the cord and started the motor on the saw and gave it a few revs for kicks. Chuck laughed hysterically and held the saw above his head bringing the buzz saw to full throttle above Ranma's head. "Time ta slice n' dice!"

Willis slid his gun towards Ranma with a pained expression and with a fluent motion Ranma swiped it up with his left hand and got ready for a shot, but the chainsaw was already coming down upon him. Ranma moved his finger from the trigger and the spinning chain caught it between the barrel and the grip sending sparks flying off it. Chuck was strong and he pushed hard against Ranma bringing the saw closer to Ranma's shoulder. The smile on his blood smeared face told Ranma that he was going to cut him to pieces and probably jack off on the dismemberments. The spinning fury crept closer and closer until Ranma had to look away from his flesh starting fly away on its own.

He screamed as Chuck started carving into him with the ripping teeth, but the weight of the chainsaw became lighter as he felt a helping hand come his way. He was laying over Marci, but she pushed against Ranma's hands only half an inch away from the roaring death dealer and she was pushing with all she had left. Ranma knew that if Chuck made it through his shoulder then Marci would be the next thing to go through, so he muscled up and pushed back with her.

The gun in his hand started heating up, but the saw started to get away from him and as he pushed he took a quick look at his shoulder. The teeth didn't rip down too far; it just took off the skin and tossed the small chunks all along Chuck's hairy arms. Blood pooled into the empty area quickly and also overflowed staining his shirt a nasty red. Chuck put all his weight onto the blade this time and it started coming down again slowly. Ranma just didn't have enough to push harder, but thankfully Willis jumped onto Chuck's back and started pulling him back. The saw went away and Ranma was free, but Willis was tossed aside before he could do any good and got a shot in the leg and when he went down the gun went to his head. Willis's eyes went wide as the gun clicked and pulled back. Willis's head shook not believing that the gun was out of ammo and just sat there scared with sweat on his forehead feeling his heart getting ready to explode.

Ranma tried to take a shot at Chuck, but his gun was ruined and only good for throwing. He got off Marci and made a dash for Chuck to start swinging wild. The chainsaw revved up again and it swung out. Ranma just barely misses it, but it managed to take off a small chunk just under his eye. He fell over and started crawling backwards on his hands and feet to get away.

Chuck came at him again and again hitting the floor and walls leaving painful screeches echoing through the room across the sound of the raging boiler. Chuck led Ranma into a corner and pointed the puttering chainsaw at him. "All I wanted was for her to suck my dick, but you…" Chuck's smile became broad and crazed. "I'm gonna cut off yer arms n' legs and leave ya alive so you can watch me rape the living piss out of those two dykes! We're all gonna have a blast man and you're invited! Maybe I can dig up your girlfriend, drill a few new holes in her corpse and skull fuck the shit out of her. How would ya like that?"

Ranma's blood started to boil and he felt his hand touch something sharp and already covered in blood. The spinning saw came at him with a squealing scream down to Ranma and just as it came close Ranma pushed against the wall with his hands and slid underneath Chuck to sent that sharp thing right into his fucking nuts. Chuck screamed and fell back against the floor dropping the saw to pull the thing out. Ranma scrambled to his feet picking up the empty gun Chuck had dropped. He unloaded the clip from his fucked gun and put it into Jerry's empty one. The clip locked in tight and secure and Ranma pointed down at Chuck. Without wasting another moment he took out Chuck's arms and a piece of his ear. Ranma stared down at Chuck with a red face of pure hatred and anger and slowly reached down to pick up Chuck's chainsaw. His eyes stayed locked on the man and he placed a hand on the starter cord. "You baby raping…" He pulled the cord, but the two-stroke death dealer only puttered and stalled. "Sodomizing…" Another pull but it stalled again. "SACK OF SHIT!" With one last hard pull the Chainsaw roared to life once again and Ranma bared his teeth like an angry dog, growling and spitting with a shaking face getting ready to tear the man apart.

Chuck scurried away and put up a hand with a look of fright on his face. "N-no! I-I'm sick! Please! I… I can't help myself, I swear! I-I-I need medicine!"

Ranma scowled at Chuck and gave the throttle a few quick pulls. He stepped slowly towards Chuck with hells fury flaming in his eyes. "Don't worry Chuck. I've got your medicine right here!"

Ranma opened up the gas and turned the blade into a spinning carousel of blood slinging mayhem. Willis crawled over to Marci and cover her up, especially her eyes. "Don't look… Don't listen… Cover your eyes and don't look…" Ranma ran and lunged at Chuck just as he got up to run, but Ranma sent the blade cutting into his stomach and spinning out the back right next to his spine spraying Ranma with blood, bone and sinew. Chuck kept screaming violently and with his mouth wide-open Ranma reached out and grabbed the bottom of his jaw and started pulling and twisting with everything he had.

Chuck's jaw gave off a snap and tears of pain came out of him through his cries until Ranma's hand started pulling the jaw right off Chuck's head. Long stands of meat pulled and snapped with Ranma's final heave and they both screamed, one with rage and the other with fear. "How do ya like it asshole? It's about to get a hell of lot worse!" Ranma tossed the jaw away, started up the saw again sending Chuck's guts across the floor, but before Chuck died from the disembowelment, Ranma rammed the gun against the roof of Chuck's mouth and blew out the back of his head with a single bullet and a hate filled smile on his face.

Ranma let go and the body hit the floor with the chainsaw still in it. Ranma fell back exhausted from his wounds and murderous outburst. He leaned himself against the wall and started to shiver from the adrenaline. After a while he realized he was the only on conscious, because he was the only one that heard Bugsy burst through the door with his gun out ready to kill. "Marci! MARCI!"

Ranma started feeling sleepy, but he looked up at Bugsy with lazy eyes and pointed. "Over there… She's… She's all right… Help them…"

Ranma watched Bugsy run over to where Marci laid out cold and his eyes started to water. "Baby girl! It's papa! Answer me!"

He managed to shake her awake and her entire body vibrated. "…P-Papa…"

He wrapped his arms around her tight and picked her up with the feel of fire in his eyes. "Papa's here baby girl… Papa's here…" He turned quickly to Ranma who was smiling. "Is he here?"

Ranma's smile came to him through victory and he started dozing off. "No… I got em' Bugsy… I got em' real good…" He pointed his head at the pile of blood and bones and after that his eyes became heavy causing him to fall to his side and give a small laugh with the last of his strength. "I killed that bastard good…"

Bugsy looked down at Willis with the gunshot wound, but still breathing and then at Jerry hanging from the barbed wire. He pulled out his phone and called some one very important. "Jerico! Get as many people as you can here now! Chuck's dead, but every one… Oh god…" Bugsy's eyes burned and he had to wipe his face. " They need help! Hurry!" Bugsy put Marci down beside Ranma and started working frantically at getting Jerry down. "Don't you dare die on me Jerry! Don't you dare!"

-

-

(Wasp – Chainsaw Charlie: Well that was my Halloween special. Not much without demons and monsters, but this should do. Happy Halloween everyone and remember to keep the spirit alive, it seems to have been slipping away from us lately.)


	21. Call The Ships To Port

Call The Ships To Port

(Covenant – Call The Ships To Port)

Every time Ranma opened his eyes, it was some sort of growing up on his part, or another eye opener on life. Every day it was the same shit but in a different pile getting ready to be kicked directly into his face. It was always some sort of lesson at the cost of innocents, but for some unbelievable reason today was different. He woke up groggy in a white bed on wheels with two people beside him. One was Akane sitting in a chair with her head slumped over onto the mattress with her hand holding his, while on the other was that little girl Marci with her own teddy bear blanket and her favorite book, Green Eggs and Ham, cradled in her arms as she slept beside him. 'Oh, I get it, my wife and kid. Got it.' A curtain was drawn around the bed with all three of them in it, but with the light peeking through it must have been morning.

Ranma felt really stiff all over and the bed felt oddly comfortable with its warmth. He slowly rotated his thumb around Akane's hand and woke her up. "Hey, how ya doing?"

She breathed in deeply opening her eyes and looked at Ranma with a smile. "It's about time you're awake." She leaned in and wrapped an arm around his neck and gave the side of his head a kiss just above his ear. "How are you feeling?"

The kiss felt good, but it would have been better on his lips. He looked around and saw his sheets stained red in a few spots. "I'm not really sure yet." He looked over at Marci and asked, "What's with her getting all cozy with me?"

Akane shrugged and smiled at him. "You saved her Ranma. When she was able to talk she went on and on about how her 'uncle' Ranma made the mean man go away. She wanted to make sure you wouldn't go anywhere, so she read you that book every night and made sure no one came to take you away."

Ranma looked away a bit bashfully. "I didn't do it alone… Wait… Every night? How long have I been out for?"

Akane stroked his head softly with a calm look. "Just a few days. The doctors had to keep you under so you wouldn't move around and ruin your stitches."

"I'm starting to feel like Frankenstein's monster. Do I got bolts in my neck yet?"

Akane smiled and shook her head. "Not yet. Why? Are you afraid you'll scare her away?" Akane looked at Marci when she said it.

Ranma took another look at Marci; she was still black and blue with cuts all over, but with a peaceful look on her face. "She's a tough kid… Never would have thought a six year old could take that and get right back up." Ranma looked back at Akane and asked, "Are the others ok?"

Akane looked away a bit shy for a moment and said, "They're all still here. Detective Willis can walk around, but he's been pretty shaken up since that night. Marci you can see and…"

"Jerry?"

"Well, she hasn't woken up yet… She lost a lot of blood…"

"Goddamnit…"

Akane held onto Ranma's hand tight and looked deep into his eyes. "I know you're still getting over the loss of a loved one, but the doctor said that she should pull through with lots of rest."

Ranma looked puzzled for a moment and managed to get out, "Wha-?"

"I know she's important to you, so-"

"Whoa there! Jerry and I are just friends, anything that happened between us are just memories of a bad hang over."

"But I thought you two were-"

Ranma shook his head with his lips making a big O. "Noooooo. We got drunk and Jerry took advantage of me."

Akane's face dropped and looked at him unconvinced. "Are you sure it wasn't the other way around?"

Ranma looked annoyed and pulled Akane's ear close. "Look, Jerry's a… (whisper whisper)… so you see how drunk I was, right?" Akane just looked at him for a moment and then she started to smile, which soon turned into snickering. "Gee thanks Akane. Throw some salt on the wound why don't ya…"

"So you and Jerry aren't?"

"Not a snowballs chance in hell."

Akane looked a little shy and asked. "Does that mean you're available?"

"Huh?"

She leaned down and lip locked Ranma on the spot and it felt funny. He just didn't know what to do at first, but lie there and take it. The kiss felt great, so he started to touch her cheek and kissed back. Then it became passionate with the two attacking each other's face with deep lips. Then a six year old pointed at Akane and said, "Ewww. You got boy germs!" Much like listening to a Barry White album with your girl friend and then hearing the record come to a screeching halt with the needle ripping straight across the vinyl, it was a hell of a mood destroyer.

Ranma looked at Marci like a deer caught in the headlights and said, "Good you're up, now get off my bed."

"Uncle Ranma's awake!" She wrapped her tight little arms around his neck and hugged him while placing a knee right on his gunshot wound.

"ARGH! GET OFF! GET OFF!"

Marci rolled off him with a pointy elbow for support and onto her knees with her hands over her mouth staring at him. "I'm sorry…"

Ranma's head fell back and hit the pillow and on his face was an utterly annoyed expression. "Goddamn…" He mumbled a few times and pointed at her. "Just don't do it again…"

Akane laughed a little and picked up the little girl gently. "I think you should let your uncle Ranma rest, ok?"

"Ok…" She held onto Akane and put her chin on her shoulder so that Akane wouldn't see the kiss Marci blew at Ranma.

Ranma laid motionless on the bed with a sour look all over his face. "I don't remember ever agreeing to this uncle thing…"

Akane chuckled as she took Marci to her room. "Just let it go, Ranma."

Almost right when Akane left with Marci, Hikori slipped in with a broad smile. "Well I heard an agonizing scream and here you are awake."

"What are you all smiling about?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd wake up soon, so I could give you a damage report."

"Damage report? And what is it I've damaged?"

"Er… Well, it's not so much damage as it is blackmail. I heard about you and-"

A sturdy arm reached up and grabbed Hikori's shirt with an unbreakable grip along with a vicious yank. "If you go around spreading that kind of untrue information, so help me I will beat you to death with my colostomy bag."

"You got a colostomy bag?"

Ranma thought about if for a second and leaned over the side of his bed for a look. "Awe, crap. I've got a tube in my butt…"

"Don't worry about it I just came here to bug you anyways."

"Well you're doing a good job of it. So what is it you want?"

Hikori scratched his chin and shrugged. "Well the way you killed that guy I thought you would have needed some sort of help, or mental evaluation."

"You telling me you've got remorse for that fucker?"

Hikori shrugged again. "Not really, he had it coming. I'm just saying that you went a little psycho. I dragged your sorry ass out of there and I saw that pile of something that looked like dog food you left behind. Pretty fucking thorough."

"Where I come from, a job is done and it's done well. That and he said something about Sheela I didn't like."

Hikori looked puzzled for a moment and asked, "What, did you sit down, have tea and talk life with this guy before you hacked him up with a chainsaw?"

Ranma looked like he gave it moments thought and came up with, "No, why do you ask?"

Hikori looked at Ranma like he was stupid and had lobsters crawling out of his ears. "If you didn't then how did Chuck Palmer know who you were and about Sheela?"

Ranma looked at the wall blankly for a second and asked, "Yeah, how did he know?"

"I'm asking you, ya idiot! Was it a setup of something?"

Ranma sat up a little more properly in his bed with a hint of pain and crossed his arms. "How could it be? How would Jasper have known I would have gone there personally? It's not like he recognized me or anything."

"You saw him?"

"Yeah, he's a speedy fucker. Shot my gun out of my hand before the door was even fully open."

Hikori started to scratch his head really confused. "So you saw him, but he didn't see you, yet he was able to shoot your gun out of your hand while you busted into a room? How do you manage that?"

"TNA."

"Oh, you were a chick… And you're still alive because…?"

"Boris took a bullet for me. Said I was one of his strippers and Jasper told him to shut up."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

Ranma shrugged "I had a gun to my head and I couldn't breathe."

"And he didn't shoot you?"

Ranma did the 'Taa-daa' maneuver and held his hands out. "As you can see, no he didn't shoot me."

"But… A guy like Jasper would have a few pictures of you somewhere… And you don't exactly go all out to keep your curse thingy a major secret."

"Well he did give me a look up and down and seemed pretty dissatisfied."

Hikori placed a hand on his chin and went into deep thought. "Must not have liked what he saw…"

"Yeah… Hey!" For some reason, deep down, Ranma took a certain amount of pride in his female figure and inadequacy pissed him off for reasons he himself couldn't understand. It's just something that he'd developed after he got the curse and since then he's been cornering himself into a world of verbal abuse and people poking fun at him on a daily basis. Today was no different in that aspect.

"Self conscious? If it's any consolation I think you're a very lovely girl in your times of change."

"Fuck off!"

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to-"

"Do you want to be beaten with the colostomy bag? I swear to god I'll do it!" The way Ranma held it up with out even flinching when the covers rose close to his legs caused concern in Hikori's mind.

Hikori started smiling and scratching the back of his head. "Well, if it's any consolation-"

"No! No, how about you get out and do something meaningful for once like I don't know… Cook at Ukyo's place, she'll keep ya busy for hours."

"Ok, want me to get you some water while I'm out, so you know… You can do what ever it is you do when you're a chick."

"How about you shampoo my crotch, asshole?"

Hikori chuckled and started stepping out. "Ok, ok, but it's good to see you're doing well. I think Mousse wanted a word with you or something."

"For crying out loud, I'm an injured man, I should be left alone and be resting in style, so get to it and get me a hammock."

"Whatever douche bag."

When Hikori left Ranma slid back down and let his head hit the pillow. 'That really took it out of me… Am I really that fucked up?' Ranma lift the covers and pulled open a little housecoat he was given. 'Jesus Murphy! How did I get so many bruises?' It wasn't just bruises, but small cuts all over the place with a big red, purple, blue, and black spot where a bullet hole was replaced with a bunch of stitches and a shit load of gaze. His shoulder and a little ways down his arm was completely bandaged up, red and it probably had a really effective freezing cream on it, but even then it still throbbed with a small fire in it. After evaluating his personal damage report he came to a conclusion. 'I should be way more drugged up then I am right now… I'm going to start feeling this shit in an hour.' It also dawned on him that he couldn't feel his legs, but he could still move his feet. 'Odd…'

He was so caught up in thought that he didn't even see Akane step back in, nor did he notice her hand on his head right away. "Sorry I jumped on you like that…"

"Eh?"

"I shouldn't have just kissed you like that, I wasn't thinking about your feelings."

"Oh, please don't have the feelings discussion with me. That is the last thing I need right now. How's the brat?"

Akane giggled. "She's fine. Are you sure you don't like kids?"

Ranma thought about it for a minute and gave her a half smile. "Any one can see through my 'tough guy/I hate kids' act. It's just the thought of being a dad that scares the shit out of me."

Akane crossed her arms, legs and sat back. "That's an odd thing to say."

"Never mind… Just something that's been going through my head lately. With what happened to Marci and what happened to Shampoo… Going after Chuck was the closest I've ever felt to being a dad, being worried about a kid so much. All hysterical, but able to keep my head. That wasn't what Bugsy was like… I'm just wondering if I would have done it differently if I was her dad."

Akane smiled and held onto his hand. "I wouldn't worry. You're not her dad; you're her big strong uncle Ranma that saved her life."

Ranma smiled. "Yeah…" Then he let out a sniff. "Oh god! Akane look away!"

"What?"

"I'm getting all misty eyed here. Look away!" Ranma's palm went to his eyes and he had a large embarrassed smile on his face.

Akane laughed and hugged him. "That's so sweet… Don't worry I won't tell anyone."

Ranma tried to push her off. "No, stop. You're gonna get me going and when I start I don't stop."

Bugsy stood at the door with his arms crossed and a large grin on his face. "You big softy."

"No, not you too."

Bugsy walked over and put out a hand. "Put er' there man."

Ranma put his hand out too, but with a few tears in his eyes. "Ok… But go thank Willis or something… I can't stand this kind of attention."

Bugsy's hand held Ranma's with something that felt like he didn't want to let go. He shook his head as if doing some sort of self-reflecting in his mind. "When I asked for your friendship, I never expected this from you… You three saved my baby girl… Anything… Anything you need, want, it doesn't matter you come to me. All right?"

Ranma nodded and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah… Just don't make me do that again. That was… It just wasn't the proudest moment in my sanity. Yeah, that's the best way to descried it." Ranma turned his head towards the doorway to see Mousse standing there with his arms crossed and looking down at the ground. He seemed to be thinking hard about something serious and the look on his face showed that he wasn't there to deliver flowers. He had a question for Ranma and it had been burning a hole in his brain for a few days now. Akane caught Ranma's glance and saw Mousse as well. "Hey guys, could you give us a moment?"

Akane nodded and Bugsy turned around to see Mousse. "Oh, uhh sure. I should go check on Marci anyways."

Akane got up and ran her fingers through his hair. "I'll be in the next room if you need me."

"Thanks." The two left and Mousse stepped in closing the door behind him. "That serious eh?"

"Yeah." Mousse pulled up a chair and sat by the bed. "I've got a question for you."

"What?" Then Mousse just sort of stayed silent, not knowing really how to ask it. He started rubbing his neck, adjusting his glasses, anything he could do to kill time. "Fine I'll guess. Does it involve something I've done?"

"No… It's more something you might have experience in. You see I got this letter the other day…" Mousse pulled it out of his sleeve and handed it to Ranma.

Ranma took a gander at it and read the writing. He got to the bottom and turned his eyes towards Mousse slowly. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"I haven't told Shampoo yet…"

Ranma scratched his head and simply said, "Oh, I get it. Finally found a lead and don't know what the hell to do."

Mousse slouched in his seat a little and let out a breath. "This guy says he knows who killed our child, but…"

"You're not sure if it's the real deal or some sort of sick joke." Ranma read the letter again quickly and said the name at the bottom. "Ned Vinsfield… Sounds like a real name…" Ranma thought about it again and looked Mousse in the eye. "I don't see why you shouldn't check it out, or is it something else that's bothering you?"

Mousse nodded. "I want revenge and I want it badly, but I'm not sure if I should tell her or not."

"You're asking the wrong guy Mousse. I don't even know what the fuck I'm going to do, let alone what you should do. All I can advise is to bring a gun and a couple of buddies, but please remember that you're taking advise from a guy that hacked someone up with a chainsaw, so it may be a little questionable."

Mousse just looked at him for a second, shook his head and said, "I didn't know that."

"Oh… Uh… Just pretend you didn't hear that then."

Mousse got up and started heading out. "You're right… You're the wrong person to ask."

Just as Mousse touched the doorknob Ranma spoke up. "Just so you know, if it were up to me that is, I'd find the man responsible and give her the big kill. The fight has been taken out of her, but I saw you both blow away eight guys with my own eyes. She got five and you got three and I'm surprised that you even managed to hit someone with that sight of yours, but what I'm getting at is that the fight is still alive in the both of you. You've both dirtied your hands so you may as well go the next step, unless of coarse you want to forgive and forget, but that's just not going to happen. My suggestion would be to talk to this Ned Vinsfield before you talk to Shampoo, just so you don't get her hopes up if he doesn't deliver."

Mousse looked a little edgy and asked, "What if I get killed…?"

Ranma laughed, "That's your problem not mine. Just don't die." Mousse now officially thought Ranma was a class A crazy, but for some reason the advise seemed pretty solid, except for that not dying part. That was going to be hard, but he nodded and left without a word. Ranma was finally starting to feel relaxed and he sunk into the bed to rest his eyes. After a little while his breathing became soft and he was getting ready to go back to sleep, but someone opened the curtain beside his bed. He rolled his head and looked over and soon his calm expression became a look of shear horror. "Jerry! What the hell are you doing here?"

Jerry looked groggy from her bed and a little angry. "Not a snowballs chance in hell, huh? I turn my back on you for one minute and you're off meandering with another woman!"

"Where the- Fuck that! When the hell did you wake up?"

"Don't try to blindside me with idle expressions of concern!"

Ranma's face became angry and he pointed at the door. "I'm not concerned! I want you out of my room!"

Mousse was in the elevator going up to the ground floor of the casino with his arms crossed and thinking to himself. His back was to the wall and his brain was in the clouds somewhere. 'Ned Vinsfield… What would you know?' Mousse had his doubts as the elevator door slid open to neon lights and loud digital sounds of slot machines. He sighed as he stepped out through the lounge and into the street. He'd never really gotten fully acquainted with the joy of driving a car and preferred to walk through the city most of the time.

In truth Mousse had grown up very little in the last two and a half years. Unlike Ranma he always had a constant chip on his shoulder about something, and couldn't shake the feeling that someone was getting ready to step on his toes. Everything was an insult of some kind, and everyone was still trying to steal his Shampoo away from him. Sure he lost a kid and felt bad about it, but not nearly as much as Shampoo did. It was a cold thought, but he wasn't attached yet and though he was sad, the cold hard truth was that he managed to shake it off and replace it with that familiar schoolboy grudge. The thought of this occurred to him and it made him mad. At best he'd been faking grief so that he had an excuse to get angry and complete that cycle in his life, and keep up the redundant nature of his character.

Get mad, get revenge, prove love, get shot down and repeat. Then one day Ranma left and all his problems went with him. It was Mousse's big chance and he finally succeeded in getting the woman he'd lusted after all his life. Thank you lord; there must be a god somewhere out there. Then Mousse's brain went into autopilot and now he didn't know what else to do with his life. How can you just live happily ever after one day and not even think about what happened the day before? People need conflict in their lives in order to make things interesting and as soon as that conflict is gone they go nuts and stop using their head to think, just so that they can get that conflict back.

Mousse was no different from anyone else and as soon as it became a constant stream of sitting back and relaxing, he got bored and needed something to do. So what did he do? He decided that he was ready to father a child and a child brings conflict, frustration, and everything else you need to make your life interesting. It's the hardest task, the most rewarding task, and the most eye-opening task that you can ever bring upon yourself. So they talked about it, got busy, had fun and a lot was to be expected from this, and then it happened. A pregnant woman doesn't come home one night. Mousse gets scared. Granny assures him that she can look after herself. Next day comes; people are starting to get worried. Second day becomes a mad search. Third day, police are informed and there's a search party. End of week one, Shampoo must be dead. Next Wednesday comes around and there's a knock on the door, must be another cop telling them they found nothing, but it's not. It's Shampoo. She's scared, barefoot, bloody, beaten, shaking, and a hell of a lot thinner.

He wanted to get revenge for Shampoo and though it may sound right at first, this is wrong. He had to get revenge for the baby boy or girl that he was going to raise and train to take on life on its own. He missed his chance and did nothing about it, but cry with her until it seemed pointless to him. He was an utter bastard for not doing anything about it till now and the only thing that seemed to make sense now were the words of a guy he hated and in most recent news, chopped some other crazy up with a chainsaw. A bullet in his brain would have been easier to listen to right now then that nutso cross dressing bastard, but he didn't have a gun on him so it was just better to go to the meeting place and ask around.

The meeting place he was meant to go to first was actually the start of a chain reaction of places he had to go in order to find this Ned Vinsfield. The first place was something of a run down store in the poor district close to home and he'd have to find a man with a monocle reading a newspaper. Unfortunately he'd only be there at a certain time so Mousse had to kill some time before he went. He thought about taking Ranma's advise in full and get a couple of guys to help him, but he didn't want to deal with thugs and get people that involved that didn't need to be, besides this was something personal. He didn't need a couple of gung-ho wing nuts with itchy trigger fingers, waving their guns around trying to prove a point. He could have asked that Hikori guy, but he didn't trust for some reason. The guy just seemed like he was always plotting something bad behind every ones backs and it gave Mousse an uneasy stomach. Paranoia? Indigestion? Kidney stone? He couldn't tell, but something was up for sure somewhere and chances are they were going to get in his way, as usual.

It was decided; he was going to do this alone. If Ranma couldn't help him then he didn't want help from anyone. Everyone else had a bad air around them that gave the chance of them being untrustworthy. It was his responsibility now, no one else's. He couldn't rely on anyone but Shampoo and right now she couldn't know what's going on, the stress would get to her in no time and she didn't need that. What was needed was a cup of tea or something to get Mousse to stop thinking all this bullshit and just do what he came here to do. Find the man with the monocle reading the newspaper, in a booth in the back all-alone. That would signal the start of the gauntlet.

Mousse never got that tea he needed to calm down, but without ever noticing anyone coming in, he chanced a glance up for the hell of it and saw whom he needed to see. He got up and kept his calm as he walked over to the man reading the sports page and kindly asked where he'd find Ned Vinsfield. The man looked up lazily and put down his paper for an examination of the young man in front of him. He didn't look like much, maybe jogged every morning or something, but hell he was the one Ned wanted to talk to. "I may know where he is."

Somewhere else in the city sat a man on his bed with a .44 under his chin; he'd already given the barrel a spin and without any fear pulled the trigger. A sound click echoed through his room and he didn't even hold his breath when he did it. He sighed and threw the gun onto the ground where it knocked over a few whiskey bottles, some of which still had some of the sauce in them. His voice was low and raspy as he spoke, "One more day…" and put on his coat to go to that place. His eyes always looked heavy as if tired from something and he walked like a zombie to that place in the hills.

Mousse had just been thrown around the city on an info gathering mission that involve people that only knew the next place to go instead of a final destination. He'd been from the poor district to the rich one and everywhere in between. Every one he met all had the purpose of waiting for a guy with glasses to come around and tell him where to go. Mousse started wishing that he'd bother to invest in a car when he had the chance, but judging by the last place he had to go before he got to the right place, someone must have known that he'd be walking. It was a club and it only opened in the late afternoon.

In the past little while there was a heist that involved almost every club in town getting screwed out of business for a single night and the Kitten Club was part of it, but at least whoever did it didn't have the same kind of grudge towards them as they apparently had towards The Roxy. The guy must have done something pretty bad to get burned alive and thrown out of a window, hell the entire club was burned down, but it was rebuilt again with a new design, a real bar, and a few other bells and whistles a place needed to be popular. It was now called Elektra's and owned by some guy from out of town, he wasn't important, but a certain bartender he employed was.

"I'm looking for Phil. Is he here?"

The guy serving the drinks nodded over the music and said, "Yeah, he's on in a few minutes. He'll be out anytime now, you want something to drink?"

"No thanks." Mousse sat on the stool silently and looked out into the crowd. The place used to be sort of a mosh-pit for a bunch of Goths that wore too much make-up and a lot of black. Mousse would never understand the logic in it, but in his travels he'd seen some pretty fruity attire, so it was easy to shrug off, but the music was another thing. Some sort of weird techno opera music with electric guitars and synthesizers. The place hadn't really changed from its old angle, but the place defiantly looked better.

"You were looking for me?"

Mousse looked up and was a little surprised to see something that he just couldn't make out. He couldn't tell if he was looking at a man or a woman, it was a little creepy. He was a tall thin boy with arm warmers, fish net stockings, about seven pounds of piercing and black, black, black, however the name Phil gave it away. "Yeah, I was told you could tell me where Ned Vinsfield might be."

"So you came… What took you so long?"

Mousse got the letter the night Chuck Palmer struck and other things became priority, but the three days after were just fear. He didn't know what to do until Ranma woke up, but that proved to be pretty pointless. He didn't feel like explaining it and just said, "Where is he?"

The drowsy man finally reached the place in the hills at a ranch with a couple of graves out back. Behind a tombstone named Christine he pulled a large case out from a hidden compartment in the ground. Inside were little trinkets and toys that would belong to children and mixed in them were guns and a lot of them. Revolvers, shotguns, and rifles were what he pulled out and tied to his back. He pulled out a pair of chaps and a belt to hold a couple of guns at his waist. The last items he pulled out of the case was an oilskin cowboy hat with a small feather in it, which made him smile, and a pair of riding gloves. Armed to the tooth he reached into his weather-stained coat and pulled out a couple of small flowers. He place one on each grave and touched the soil softly with his hands. "I'll be with you soon… I promise…"

He looked out into the rolling hills at the sunset coming down and along the path was a shadow of a single man etched in the distance. His hair was long and a beam of light reflected off his glasses. This must have been him, the father of that poor child. He reached into the case one more time for a whiskey bottle buried in the bottom. He undid the cap and took a mouthful while keeping an eye on the man coming towards him.

Mousse walked on without any fear in his step. The thought of revenge gave him goose bumps and the thought of finding out who was responsible was making him anxious. He could tell the man had firepower on him, it was easy enough to see, but luckily Mousse made a stop before he came. He had a talk with Bugsy over the phone and found out where he could pick up some protection and being who he was he could hide it all. Nifty gizmos that made a weapon pop out of his sleeve and into his hand were in their proper place, things that could really hurt some one were in his pockets and with all these Mousse was about to learn something that Ranma had to a learn a year back or so. Sometimes you have to go a little crazy in order to justify what you're about to do.

-

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(Covenant - Call The Ships To Port: Man, two weeks ago I went to Cancun and had the time of my life. And I could have sworn I posted this chapter before I left. It appears I was wrong. I hearby apoligize for not fulfilling my duties as an author and getting sloshed on a beach thousands of miles away and not once thinking, 'Gee I should really start planning for another chapter' for two weeks. By the way, pineapples grown in the ground. I shit you not. Oh, and I'm, going to start putting the full titles of the song at the top now, in case there are people that get this music, but don't want to scroll to the bottom. Have fun and party hard. PS: Margarita mix + slushy machine ingenious.)


	22. Ghost Riders In The Sky

Ghost Riders In The Sky

(The Outlaws – Ghost Riders In The Sky)

"Ned Vinsfield?"

The tired looking man just stared lifelessly at Mousse with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He began to move after the bottle slipped out of his hand and stood there with a hand on the barrel of one of the rifles on his back and the other close to his hip. "Yeah, I'm him…"

Mousse grinded his teeth for a moment and glared at the scar faced man. "Who killed my baby? Was it you?"

The man had nicks and healed cuts on his face showing him to be a veteran scrapper. He was of average size and didn't look a whole lot like anyone of interest, but his eyes were something else. They were that of a stone cold killer and a desensitized mind. His eyes told Mousse that he'd seen hell and came back with the devil's head slug over his shoulder as a trophy, but deep in the back he was full of regret. "I ain't the one you're lookin' for."

"Then who?"

Ned's hand went to his gun with the speed of greased lightning, but Mousse was pretty fast himself. He moved just fast enough to avoid the bullet, but it was close enough to make one lens of his glasses crack. Mousse jumped and his feet slid on the dusty trail and just as quickly he had his gun out for the ready. Ned started moving fast and hid behind a white oak tree before Mousse could get out a shot. "If you survive, then maybe I'll tell ya… I just gotta know if ya have the balls ta do it." Mousse fired his gun and a couple shots whizzed by the tree and only one clipped the edge of it. "Ya shouldn't waste rounds like that." Ned ducked down and busted out from behind the tree with a full out sprint and with an unwavering arm took a couple of pot shots at Mousse.

Mousse got low and ducked behind an old beat up tractor covered in rust. Bullets sparked and rebounded off the metal body and once again Mousse fired away from behind a big wheel as if having ammo to spare. He peeked out to see if he hit anything, but as far as he could see he hit nothing and not only that, but Ned seemed to have disappeared on him. Things started to get quiet and Mousse tried looking around with frantic eyes searching for anything, but nothing. Mousse got brave and kept his back to the tractor as he crept around it for a better look, but as soon as he peeked his head around the back of the machine a shot went off from somewhere and almost took his head clean off. Mousse got back behind the thing and started breathing hard with a hand to his chest.

Ned was down in some dead tall grass the same color as his coat. He held the rifle steady and pointed at the tractor waiting for Mousse to show his face again. His eyes were cold and locked without emotion. He could wait there all day and night if he had to.

Ranma was tapping his head against the wall trying to knock himself out because Jerry's was being an angry, noisy bitch as usual. "Why can't you go away?"

"How rude! I'm in worse shape then you and you expect me to leave? Fuck you!"

"You wouldn't be here if you just shot that asshole properly! What was it again? You attacked him from behind? This doesn't help us Jerry! You should have pumped lead straight into that dip shit's head!"

"Unlike you I wouldn't even think about splattering some guys brains all over a six year old!"

"You didn't tell me that part!"

Akane rubbed her head and looked tired. "How long are you guys going to keep yelling at each other…?"

"Back off hussy! This is MY man and I'LL deal with him!"

"BUGSY!"

Mousse was getting smart and he decided to take a risk. As safe as being pinned down behind a beat up tractor with a mad man who was in the vicinity of somewhere up ahead with a loaded gun was, he felt that a change was in definite demand. He took off his over shirt, rolled in into a ball, threw it one way and ran another. Mousse went directly towards the barn with doors wide open, as a shot went off behind him. From the feel of things it seemed to have worked for him, but Ned was quick and empty shells were already flying out the side of the stock. Mousse heard something go by his ear and it scared him to his hands and knees. He started pushing dirt around making a dusty scene as he got to his feet for the last stretch, but just as he went through the wide wooden doors a hot round split through the wood and went deep into his side.

Mousse let out a shriek of pain, as this was his first gun shot wound he'd ever had. It wasn't anything like being on the receiving end of a punch, kick, or knife. I was more like having your insides rearranged quite suddenly and the place where the meat once filled was now replaced with a rush of hot fiery blood and a three hundred degree hunk of lead. It hurt a lot. He was flat on the ground mixed in with the hay for a few seconds before he realized that he wasn't dead, but upon trying to get up he found that he just couldn't. The pain in his side was unbelievable and the only thing he could do was roll over get ready to scream, but with much effort he kept himself from wailing. His breathing picked up and he held on tightly to the new opening in his body.

He shut his eyes for a moment and tried to calm down, but that made his mind start to wander and right now it was a bad thing for it to do that. He started wondering if the wound was fatal. His breathing started to pick up and the more he thought about it the more he started to fear. His hands started shaking and his knees followed suit. Then the sound of spurs clinging became the only thing heard and Mousse knew that it was Ned coming to finish the job. He opened his eyes slowly to see Ned's long shadow stretched over him and a revolver poised in the air just above his head. "You scared? You should be. You're gonna die. I guess having someone rip a baby out of your woman isn't enough to get ya to kill properly. Look at yourself… You're a shaking mess of fear. You're like all the others I've had to kill. None of them could rake up the balls to come at me with shear hate and revenge. Don't ya want to know who did it? How many more children are going to have to die before someone does something?" Ned reached down and grabbed a handful of Mousse's long hair. "How many more are going to be thrown out labeled as 'medical waste'?"

That hit a sore spot for Mousse and it made his fist hard. Despite the thought that he might die he pulled back without fear of being shot again and clocked Ned across the jaw as hard as he could. Ned went down and Mousse switched places with him. Mousse stood over Ned for less then a second and he recoiled his leg for heavy kick straight into Ned's gut. "Is that what happened? Was it thrown out like that?"

Mousse went for a second kick, but Ned caught Mousse's leg and pulled him down onto the ground with him where they exchanged a few punches, until they both tied each other up so neither could move. Ned smiled at Mousse and showed off some bad dental work. "You better believe that how it was. Oh and in case you were wondering, it was a beautiful baby boy."

"Shut up!" Mousse head butted Ned right in the nose and they scampered away from each other, but while Ned was crouched over holding his nose, Mousse came at him with a move known as a kick to the fucking face. Ned's body went limp momentarily as he flew back through the air and straight out the conveniently placed window headfirst. The glass shattered around Ned's hat and glimmering shards bounced and trickled down him, but years of experience won over the pain and his reflexes made him pull out another revolver and fire off two shots before he disappeared outside.

A couple puffs of dirt shot up close to Mousse, but he was already hot on Ned's trail. He ran and jumped through the broken window and much like Ned his reflexes started taking over. When he was down he completely forgot that he was still armed, but his body didn't. With a flick of his wrist the sound of small moving gears and little metal rails sprang to life momentarily and put a 9mm right into the palm of his hand. Through his cracked lens he saw a figure dash into the bushes and opened fire before he could think. He ran after Ned, but before he could get into the foliage with Ned a heavy fist came out clocked him across the side of the head. Mousse stumbled back shaking his head, but now it was Ned's turns.

Ned did a standard 1-2-3 combo with fists to the gut and one more across the face. A gun came to Mousse's head and he leaned back just in the knick of time to let the bullet pass by harmlessly with only millimeters between them. Mousse let himself fall back onto one hand and pushed up hard with a foot planted right under Ned's chin. Ned fell onto his back, but rolled backwards and got to his feet while Mousse showed off some agility and did a backwards handspring to his feet.

Ned smiled and all he got out was, "Heh." And they both reached of for a straight shot. Ned got his shot off first while ducking to the side and managed to clip Mousse's shoulder as he pulled the same maneuver. Mousse reached up and grabbed his arms with his teeth clenched. "No one's ever beaten me in a quick draw bud, and I don't think yer gonna surprise me anytime soon. Yer a real lousy shot."

Mousse watched where Ned's gun pointed and it was a good arms length away from Ned where Mousse's bullet hit itself right into the trunk of a tree. Mousse looked at the split wood with almost a sigh, as he knew right away that no matter how much he was going to shoot at the guy, he was going to miss by a long shot. The only alternative would be to get as many guns away from Ned as he could and fight him hand to hand. 'Just don't die… Ranma… You're such an unbelievable asshole… I can even hit this guy… Forget that he's smiling after every punch, how can I hurt him? I need something that'll hit him… Then again I can use something that doesn't really rely on accuracy…' Mousse flicked his other wrist this time and after a quick clicking sound Ned smiled and saw Mousse holding a sawed-off double barrel shotgun.

"Bringing out the big boy toys? Smart move. Just remember squirt, I've got one too." Ned crouched down quickly as Mousse let a shot go off over top of Ned and as the back of Ned's coat flew up as he crouched, he reach behind and inside his coat for the Western Custom strapped to his back. The kind that looks you have to pull the handle apart to reload, but Ned was a pro and all he needed was a quick spin in his hand to get the next burst round ready for action. Metallic buttons and leather straps burst apart and with one hand he brought the single barrel around and locked in on Mousse. Mousse made Ned duck again with his next shot and turned to go back through that window he came out of. Just as he went through the window an explosion of wood blew apart and made another opening in the wall close to where Mousse came in.

Mousse started shaking and put his back to the wall as he popped the double barrel open and pulled out the two hot shells. A couple more rolled into his hand from his sleeve and with a shaky hand put them in quickly. Mousse got up quickly and as if expecting Ned to follow through the window as well, he unloaded just below the windowsill and right through the window as well. Then he waited as if became oddly quiet. He reloaded again and stepped slowly towards the window. He kept the double barrel ahead of him as he looked out the window to see a pair of footprints leading up to the window but disappearing right after. 'He's not in here is he?' Mousse turned frantically and looked all over but couldn't see anyone in there with him. 'Where the-' Then a shadow passed over top of him and he looked up quickly to see Ned taking aim with his six-shooter. "Damnit!"

Mousse bailed to the side and took a shot at him. Ned must have climbed up the side of the building and got in somehow, but that didn't matter. He was running along a wooden beam shooting fire at Mousse every chance he had. "Lookin' a little pale down there. Need a break?"

Mousse jumped behind an old crate and yelled, "Shut up!" The mocking wasn't helping his pride at all, but with the pale remark he was starting to calm down and feel the pain in his side again. He didn't notice it before but he was leaking blood, not enough to kill him yet, but enough to make him dizzy. Mousse felt his face and it was covered in a cold sweat that stuck to him like molasses and made his skin feel clammy. Mousse shook his head and thought to himself. 'I can't beat this guy…'

Ned was getting impatient so he started telling Mousse a little secret of his. "You've got a fighting spirit kid, any one can see that. Not a lot of men have lasted this long, but some have lasted a lot longer, but there's something about you that I just can't put my finger on. Ya keep hiding, but you've got all this fight left in ya. Most men wouldn't just sit back cry to themselves after losing an unborn baby like that… I suppose yer not most men. Sort of like me."

"Screw you! The hell would you know about it? You're just some sick freak! If you know something then why don't you just tell me! Why the hell do we have to fight?" Mousse was starting to feel tired and he couldn't think of a plan.

"I guess yer right son. I don't know jack shit about nothing. But I do know one thing, and it's that I've always loved a good drink. I got myself a secret stash up here I almost forgot about. My wife n' kids never knew about it, just a place to myself you know what I mean? Want a sip?"

Before Mousse could answer he heard a familiar grinding sound followed by a whooshing sound in the air. 'A lighter…?' "Oh, shit…" Mousse looked up just as the Molotov cocktail broke to pieces above his head followed with a heavy blanket of flames coming down at him. Mousse got out from behind the crate as fast as he could but Ned jumped down and caught the beam with his hands and swung his legs just in time to kick Mousse in the face. Mousse fell back and into the fire and he got out quicker then he went in, but with flames on his back. It was at this point that Mousse decided to get a little crazy.

He could have dropped to the ground and rolled around until the flames were out but instead he made a mad dash for Ned when he landed. Ned didn't have enough time to get a gun ready and when he realized Mousse was coming at him, Mousse had his arms wrapped tightly around Ned in a bear hug, while picking his pockets so to speak.

Mousse eventually got an armload and he broke away when the flames on his back started to hit his flesh. He rolled on the ground hugging a couple of rifles, a shotgun, and three revolvers. Ned stepped back a little dazed and started patting himself down to find his stuff. He looked up at Mousse who was already in the process of throwing the guns into the wall of fire making its way swiftly through the barn. Mousse cursed silently remembering that his double barrel was in there somewhere and all he had left was a single pistol still up his sleeve, but he thought quickly and knew Ned had no clue about it yet. This was his chance to get close enough for a direct hit.

Ned looked carefully at Mousse and looked a little tired. "Shouldn't have burnt all those guns kid. Now I've only got one left and yer startin' piss me off."

'Missed one…' Mousse wasn't feeling lucky at all, but he had to bet everything on a surprise attack that had to go down as quickly as possible.

"Ya look like yer thinkin' there boy… You must got somethin' I don't… Remember. Dead men don't talk."

A dreaded feeling of realization just ran up and kicked Mousse in the nuts. Dead men do not in fact talk. 'But it's the only plan I got…' Mousse tightened up his fist for one last rush and came at Ned with all his speed. Ned got ready for the attack, but he saw Mousse hit his arm on a beam and right after he heard the moving of gears from within the sleeve. Even though he knew it was coming it was hard to dodge with how fast Mousse was coming at him. He watched Mousse's arm come up for a right hook, but half way into the punch a gun worked its way into Mousse's hand and it was going to aim low. The only thing Ned could do was put out his hand and knock the gun out of the way, but when he did it went off and a spray of blood came out the back of Ned's hand.

Ned yelled and grabbed Mousse's collar with his left hand and head butted Mousse in the nose and while Mousse fell back he pulled out his last gun, pulled the trigger, gave Mousse a new belly button and ran out of the barn holding his hand with a look of pain.

Mousse fell onto his back slowly and watched the burning roof with wide eyes. That was it right there. That was killing shot. That was the shot that would end everything. He couldn't breath anymore. It felt like there was a pint of water in the middle of his throat that he couldn't swallow and make it so that he couldn't breath. He lift his hands from the wound from the blood covering his hands he could tell that he was leaking faster then a busted bottle of ketchup. His eyes started rolling back and his body was shaking again while his eyes looked around desperately for something, anything that would save him, but it was just a burning building with him in the center of it all. "Name…" Mousse forced his eyes to focus and looked straight at the door Ned fled from. "…need that name…"

Somehow his breath came back to him and he desperately tried to push himself back up to his feet. "I'll carve it into my chest if I have to…" He pushed himself into a sitting position and looked to his left for his last ditch effort. With the help of a flaming two by four he got to his feet and screamed. "Ned! Who killed my son?" Mousse walked like a zombie out of the barn with the burning club in his hand. "Ned! Where are you? Who killed my son, you piece of shit?"

A bullet flew but it went wide and hit the barn door about three feet away from Mousse's head. Ned had a hole through his right hand and now he was using his left to shoot. He could his the broad side of a barn, but that was about it. Mousse grit his teeth and ran at Ned screaming with the burning log held above his head. Ned tried hitting Mousse a couple of times, but couldn't get near and Mousse finally got his shot in. With a baseball like swing he hit the gun out of Ned's hand and sent it soaring down a dusty hill, covered in sharp rocks and tumbleweeds.

Ned needed his gun so he dove down the hill to get it and Mousse followed behind him with his arms stretched out and ready to tear the man apart. Mousse caught him in mid-flight and Ned hit the ground first. They started rolling down the cruel hill together, both punching at each other furiously with neither giving an inch. With each roll the dust cloud they left behind became larger and it one hit a rock then the other would get the sharp barbed thorns on the tumbleweed next. Dirt got into their wounds and teeth were lost between blows and by the time they got to the bottom where the single revolver rested they were both covered in dirt, bloody, and looked like hell just spat the both of them out.

Ned was the first to start crawling towards the gun, but he didn't get close enough to grab it. Mousse had him by the leg and was pulling him in for another beating. Ned started kicking relentlessly and eventually got Mousse off of him, but what he didn't notice was that his very special gun fell out of his coat in the process. Mousse's glasses were lost on the hill somewhere but when his hand touched the barrel of the .44 magnum engraved with the name Carmen on it, he knew what it was and he knew that he could use it.

Ned placed a hand on his gun and looked back to see Mousse holding up that special gun with eyes that couldn't seem to focus on him. Ned slowly got to his feet while they both kept an eye on each other. Ned looked closely as how far apart they were and it looked to be about ten paces. The sun was setting and almost gone, but it made the sky orange and red. "So how about it?"

Mousse still kept the gun in front of him but was afraid to shoot. "How about what?" He coughed it more then spoke it.

"Let's have a draw. You can hardly see me and I can't shoot worth shit with my left. We both got loaded guns but whoever shoots first will probably miss. So how about it?"

Mousse slowly got to his feet and lowered his gun to his side like Ned. "Why not…"

The two stared at each other watching to see who would make the first move. Mousse was looking sicker then death and just as pale, but with solid determination in his eyes. Ned looked tired and ready to die, but not without a fight. The wind blew softly across their faces and it was getting darker by the second. The world was in motion, but they knew exactly what they were waiting for. The breeze slowly died down and the trees around them stopped swaying to its beat. The world went silent for only a brief moment and then one flinched and Ned yelled, "Draw!"

Both guns blew smoke and fire and hot lead was sent flying in both directions. Mousse's eyes went wide as he was sent spinning to the ground, but the Ned's eyes were wider as he stood motionless for a moment. The wind came back in the form of a light breeze and it was enough to bring him to his knees. He touched his chest and pulled his fingers away to look at the blood. It was a bull's eye hit to the chest and he was going to die very soon. He fell onto his back and looked into the sky with empty eyes.

Mousse crawled over to him and started shaking him. "Who killed my son! You sonovabitch, tell me who killed my son!"

Ned reached up with his left hand and grabbed Mousse's shirt. "You wanna know? Ya earned it… It was my wife… Carmen Vinsfield." He held on tighter and came nose to nose with a shear look of hate in his eyes. "And if you thought I was gonna let ya kill her without so much as a fight, then yer sadly mistaken." Ned swallowed a lump in his throat and reached for his hat. "This is the kind of life you live when you say no to a man like Jasper. He sends your children to Chuck Palmer's playpen and delivers them back to you in five small boxes." Ned looked like he was on the verge of tears but still kept a scowl on his face. "She went crazy and did these fucked up things… I'm sorry for your loss cowboy, but I still love her… Do what I could never do… and send her to me…" Ned put his hat on Mousse's head and his arm became limp. Ned let out only one tear and said, "I don't want her to go where I'm going…"

As Ned started to close his eyes he looked passed Mousse's shoulder to see something much out of place. Maybe it was a mistake, but he saw a man in the distance perched atop a while mustang, holding a smoking rifle and staring down at them. 'So he was the one… I knew this blind kid couldn't have hit me…' Ned smiled and almost laughed, but his eyes closed first and breath became faint. 'See ya in hell cowboy…'

Mousse felt groggy and ready to die, so he fell over across Ned with the gun in his hand. Before he blacked out his eyes focused enough to see the engraving on the revolver and it was right on the loader. Across one chamber it said, 'Carmen' and just below it on the next chamber was the last name, 'Vinsfield'. 'Shampoo… for god's sake read the name…'

Ranma slid off the hood of the car and Bugsy helped him down. "Nice shot."

Ranma smile and nodded painfully. "Thanks. Let's get down there before that idiot dies on us."

Bugsy buckled Ranma into the passenger seat and brought the V8 beast to life. "I'll grab him, you keep working yourself too hard."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Yeah, but for fucks sake it's like no one listens to me. Didn't I tell him to bring someone along? Hikori could have been useful for once."

"I think it's a bit more personal then that."

Ranma rolled down the window and asked. "How so?"

"How about that Ryouga fella? How would you like it if me or Jerry, just went out of our way to pop him for ya?"

"Ok, ok, I get the point. Let's just hurry up before people start coming here to check out the fire."

"Sure thing."

"Oh and Bugsy."

"Yes?"

Ranma let out a very relieved look and said, "Thanks for getting me away from Jerry."

"No problem."

-

-

(The Outlaws – Ghost Riders In The Sky: 1.) This is the best version of the song EVER! 2.)I know the updates have been slow in coming but it's the busy time of the year. Just a heads up, if you liked this chapter then you're really going to like the next one.)


	23. Scream

Scream

(Billy Idol – Scream)

It was a good couple of days before Mousse woke up in the same room as Ranma, but the wake up wasn't exactly pleasant. He sort of heard echoed voices in darkness with someone sounding really excited and someone sounding really annoyed. Then a really loud song started playing. The electric guitar hit and Mousse's eyes opened quickly. He shot up from his bed with bloodshot eyes and an utterly annoyed expression. He looked to Ranma's bed and saw him playing the air guitar with both Hikori and Marci beside him. Hikori was on drums and Marci on base. The song was 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' and the three were singing off tune and loudly. Mousse ended the fun when Ranma went solo and yelled, "I'm hot! Sticky sweeeeet! From my head, to my feet, YEAH!"

Mousse quite literally grabbed the boom box beside him and threw it across the room and upon hitting a wall it blew into a hundred pieces. "For god's sake you guys! What the hell?" A half eaten apple was hurled from across the room and pegged Mousse in the face courtesy of Jerry. "Ow!"

"Don't swear in front of Marci!"

Hikori looked really hurt as he walked over to the debris and almost cried. "My boom box…" Hikori then picked something out of the wreckage that may have at one point looked like a tape. "My greatest hits tape… You jerk…"

Bugsy's head popped into the room from the door and asked, "Hey, who turned off the song?"

Marci looked up cutely and said, "I don't know what the hell happened."

This time a sealed cup of pudding flew across the room and hit Mousse in the side of the head with a surprising amount of force and the shooter was once again Jerry. "Look what you did!"

"Ow! Stop hitting me with things!"

Then a half eaten baloney sandwich flew as gracefully as a half eaten boloney sandwich could. "Say please! We're supposed to be role models!"

Mousse put his arms up just in time to block the onslaught of the boloney sandwich. "PLEASE stop throwing things at me!"

Jerry put down her cup and said, "That's better."

Bugsy smiled wide and said, "Thanks Jerry. Hey umm… Mister Mousse, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to your lovely lady would you?"

Mousse had a foot out of the bed and onto the floor in under a second. "What? What happened to Shampoo?"

Mousse didn't know it but Ranma gave Bugsy a look like, 'oh, you dumb bastard', but Bugsy just kept talking. "Well when we finally found you, you were holding onto a gun with a name on it. We're guessing she saw it and is now looking for that person. What happened?"

Ranma was scratching his head thinking now, wondering why Bugsy was beating around the bush like this. He was there and saw most of it through a pair of binoculars. Mousse was standing when he shouldn't have been, but he held his own while he spoke. "Damnit! Well-"

A cup flew across the room and hit him in the back of the head and he turned slowly to see Jerry glaring at him. "You don't want the next thing I'm gonna throw…"

He turned back looking a little frightened and said, "Well there was this guy, Ned Vinsfield and he had information about who killed my son."

Ranma was still a little confused and thought Mousse was getting his hopes up with the word 'son', but he decided to play along with Bugsy and get the whole story. "Well, did he?"

Mousse nodded, "Yeah, but he was a freak. He made me fight him and I eventually got him with a lucky shot."

Ranma smiled and thought to himself. 'Or was it my mad skills? Man, I'm on fire even when I'm wounded. No one's as smooth as me… Well except for-'

"Hey! Aren't you paying attention?"

Ranma snapped out of it and shook his head. "Sorry. What was that about who again?"

Mousse gritted his teeth a little and tried to calm down. "It was Ned's wife that did it, Carmen."

Jerry appeared sitting beside Ranma on his bed giving him a scare when she spoke. "Did he say anything else?"

"HWA!"

Mousse shook his head again. "No, he died before he said anything else, but I don't think he would've anyways."

"Get off of my bed!"

Jerry crossed her arms and thought. "Well I remember seeing that Shampoo girl looking at the gun with the name on it. Maybe she's looking for her now."

Bugsy looked a little hurt. "I already said that though…"

Jerry pointed at Bugsy. "Right, let's get some dirt on this Carmen lady and-"

Bugsy held up some papers. "I already did that though…"

"Oh." Jerry got up and swiped the papers out of Bugsy's hands and sat down close to Ranma again with her legs crossed. "What do you think sweetie?"

Ranma looked angry and said, "One: You nor I have had enough time to read the first word. Two: Go back to your own bed!"

Jerry started reading it out like it was the weekend comic page from the newspaper. "Whoa! A real psycho! Check this out." Jerry pointed at something showed it to Ranma.

"Get that out of my- Whoa, talk about nuts. Hey look at this…"

Mousse looked at Bugsy and started heading towards the door with a determined look and a limp. "I have to go find Shampoo!"

Bugsy put out a single finger and poked Mousse in the ribs, thus making Mousse sheik and fall to the floor. "I don't think you can help…"

After Mousse gave out the scream, three people entered the room immediately. Akane, Doctor Tofu and Kasumi. Tofu was the one that wanted to know what the hell was going on. "Mousse! Why are you on the floor? You shouldn't be moving around just yet."

Kasumi went down and got Mousse sitting up. "Are you ok?"

"No… I have to go find Shampoo!"

Both Tofu and Kasumi helped Mousse to his bed. "I know, people are looking for her right now."

"But-"

Ranma kicked the side of Mousse's bed hard enough to get his attention. "Hey, she's a big girl, I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself." Mousse never noticed it, amongst other things, but Ranma had a smile on his face that said, 'I know something you don't' and it was mostly because he did.

The night before Shampoo came in to visit Mousse again and hold his hand or something else that seemed a little weak, but it was late and someone was still awake in the room. When she looked at Ranma's bed she saw the white in his eyes and he was holding something interesting. She walked over without a word and took the papers from his hand. "Mousse fought very hard for this…"

Shampoo could barely make out the picture she was looking at and all she could get out was, "Who is-"

"Revenge is just around the corner for you." Ranma's voice was quiet and a little sinister. "I'll let you figure out who she is and what she did, it should be easy enough to figure out anyways. Do with this information what you will, but if you're not back by the end of tomorrow night I'm sending people out to find you, so you better work fast." Shampoo's hands shook a little as she held the paper, but her eyes became angry and she turned for the door. Just before she walked out Ranma stopped her with his voice, "Hey…" He threw her the gun with the name on it and when she caught it he said, "Make it hurt like hell." The only answer he got was the sound of her knuckles cracking as she walked out.

As she walked down the hall of the Casino basement Hikori joined her from one of the branching hallways and held a serious composure. "Ranma asked me to help you get set up with a few toys."

"I don't need your help."

Hikori shook his head. "You will if you want to get out of there without getting caught by the police."

"This is my fight."

"No shit? I didn't say I was going fight with you, I just said I was going to get you set up. There are a few details you don't know about yet."

"Fine…"

Hikori smiled. "I knew you'd see it my way." After giving her a quick look her thought, 'She's cute when she's angry… That lucky bastard…'

Back to the present, Mousse ended up being sedated just to get him back into his bed and people were starting to weird Ranma out. Ranma remembered Akane and Jerry fighting not too long ago, sort of a territorial pissing thing over Ranma, but now he was just confused. Akane, Kasumi and Jerry were all lying on Jerry's bed, with tissue, sniffling, and watching a soap opera. Occasionally Jerry would say something like, "That bitch… She cheated on him with that guy from Memphis…"

Ranma vacated the room pronto with a little bit of sly cunning, but wandering the basement of a casino gets boring. Luckily Hikori was just around the corner as usual with that pleasant smile of his. "And what are you smiling about?"

Hikori held up a piece of paper with an address on it. "Bugsy gave me a little clean-up job to take care of. Wanna come along and keep a seat warm?"

Ranma looked a little down. "But I wanna kick ass and chew bubble gum."

Hikori shook his head. "You can't kick anyone's ass right now. But a watch man would be very helpful, I can tell how bored you are here and this is all I can offer."

"No diamond heists?"

"We're rich, it'd be pointless."

"Fraud?"

"Again, we're rich."

"Blackmail?"

"We're rich."

"Grand theft auto?"

"We can just buy cars now because, here's the kicker, we're rich."

Ranma went quiet for a moment and finally came up with, "Being rich blows…"

Hikori nodded sadly. "Yeah, but if you want we can hit up the Smiley Burger Hut and pretend we don't have a lot of money. How's that sound?"

"I say I'm hungry, let's roll G." Upon making their way up to the ground floor, the first thing Ranma noticed was that Ukyo now had a name for her place, but Ranma was neither impressed, nor amused. "You named it didn't you…" Ranma asked Hikori as he looked down, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

Hikori just kept smiling. "Indeed I did."

Ranma looked up at the sign again and cringed. "I guess she's not up on her terminology, but then again that may be a blessing…"

Hikori started to snicker. "You have to admit, it's a catchy name."

"Hot Carl's: Home of the Cleveland Steamer. Hikori, you're a sick bastard. I only pray she doesn't figure out what that means."

"I wanted to call it The Yogurt Cannon, or The Spam Javelin, but she went with that name until you finally got around to naming it for her."

"You are so super sizing my meal…"

While Ranma and Hikori were out clogging their arteries Shampoo was walking calmly towards a cozy little bar owned by Jasper and run by Carmen. The place was on a little squat of land in a run down section of town made mostly for people without a lot of money whom wish to pretend they did. A large guy in a two-piece suit stood outside the door with his arms crossed defending the front lines of his minimum wage job. He held a list like a professional, but it was more a rolled up paper with a few names to look out for written on it. It was clear that either Jasper wasn't putting any effort into this place, or he just wanted to keep Carmen in her place at the bottom of the food chain. The neon sign flickered in sections as Shampoo approached the entrance and the big guy asked for her name. She told him and she was on the 'not allowed' list. "Sorry miss, but you're not welcome here."

Shampoo smiled nicely and a little sarcastically. "Oh, ok." Then she walked down the sidewalk beside the wall and looked at it.

The big guy looked at her looking at the wall for a few moments and finally said, "Uhhh, miss? What are you looking at?"

"A nice place for a door."

"Huh?" Shampoo pulled back her fist, and with a haymaker of a punch the wall caved in on itself and blew to pieces spreading the gray concrete debris all across the interior of the bar. Shampoo saw a lot of scared men with makeshift weapons look at her with fear in their eyes and as she stepped in she was about to fulfill that fear with action. The man standing at the original door, whose name was Bob, watched Shampoo step in, heard screaming voices, things breaking, and gunshots going. He then thought for a moment, scratched his cheek a couple of times, crumpled up the paper, and walked off to find a new job. To say Bob was the only person to come out unharmed from the incidents about to take place is in no way an understatement. Go Bob.

A man with a killer mustache, thick curly hair, broad shoulders and a square jaw, swung opened the door leading to the back and stepped into the main bar area with a determined look etched all across his incredibly handsome face. "I'm Dave Dashing, what the fucks going on here?

His answer was a chair across the face, flung from across the room. Shampoo calmly put a revolver on an empty table next to her and then rushed into the bar with a mad dash and grabbed Dave's shirt before he hit the ground. By the collar of his shirt she savagely pulled and got him airborne with a flip and when he came back down she still had his shirt in her fist and pulled down making him gain speed thus breaking the table he landed on. "Where's Carmen?" Dave couldn't say much as he was now knocked out, but there were about thirty other people that probably knew where she was.

A bunch of seasoned bar brawlers rushed at her in a drunken stupor and their weapons were pool cues, beer bottles, and fists. The cue swung at her and she stopped it with one hand while with the hand she twisted it out of the man's hands. She then pushed the blunt end straight up under his chin and lifted him a good three feet off the ground. While the one guy was flying, Shampoo saw the beer bottle coming at her and spun the cue around in such a way that she hooked the thin end of then cue inside the open bottle, plucked it out of his hands and spun the cue fast enough to shatter the bottle across the drunks face.

Mister fists-o-fury came at her with a left hook, but a quick fall to the side, a sweep kick, followed up with an insanely fast recovery to her feet that gave her the ability pull back and kick the falling man in the stomach hard enough to send him flying back sideways towards the barkeep. The wood blew to pieces as he went through it and bottles of hard dark liquors fell off the top shelf as he hit the wall behind it.

Shampoo turned to the large group of men that decided to stand by and watch. She then spoke violently and directly. "Where is Carmen Vinsfield?" One man pointed towards the back door, but soon after he did then man beside him punched him for selling out Carmen.

"You damn fool! Don't you be tellin' no lies!" The guy was an angry looking fellow and pulled out a gun. "Don't you be going to Miss Vinsfield ma'am, or I just may shoot ya."

Being drunk and rowdy can easily cloud ones judgment, but in his case he just sealed his fate with the deity of pain. Shampoo looked angry and a little lazy with the way she stood, but she gave the pool cue a quick twirl in her hand and said, "Don't you threaten me little man. Don't you dare."

"Ya got some fancy moves, but I got me live ammunition here, so don't be doin' nothin' rash now."

Shampoo wanted him to shut up so she ran at him to do so. The guy's eyes went wild and a slight smile crossed his face as he squeezed the trigger. Shampoo threw the cue with a spin and hit his hand just in time to knock the gun and the shot away from her, but she felt no need to slow down. She kept running at him and as soon as she was close she placed her left foot on his right knee, spring-boarded up, grabbed the back of his head and forced his face directly into her knee. Those teeth were probably going to be bad for his digestion.

The rest of the men freaked out and either attacked or tried to run away, but it wouldn't help any of them. As soon as the man fell over, she jumped off his chest with a forward flip and came down on the man behind him with the back of her leg that popped out his shoulder from its socket. A loud crunch was heard as his eyes went wide and a scream came out as she used his shoulder to jump to the next guy. She landed on another guy hands first and on his shoulders. Her body was stretched straight into the air and as the man lost his balance she twisted herself in a way that got her to the ground first with her foot on his chest to toss him back and into three others.

She spun her legs and got to her knees just as a couple of guys with cues swung at her, but she leaned back and let them pass over her while catching one in each hand. She snatched both cues from them and from a sitting position she managed to launch herself into a sideways barrel roll through the air while holding the sticks and letting them fly wild for anyone dumb enough to be close to her. One cue broke as it connected with a man's forehead while with the other one she threw lightly between the legs of a charging man, thus tangling him causing him to fall flat on his face.

The broken stick was held loosely in her hand and someone thought that disarming her would be a great idea, however when he grabbed at it, she turned fast to grab his hand and before he knew what was going on, his arm was twisted and held behind him. Shampoo didn't have time to hold him there so she just placed the back of his hand on a table and said, "Stay." She took the sharp broken end of the stick and ran it through his hand as well was the table. He started to scream, but he shut up with a punch to the face.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw something that may have been a threat, so when it ran at her she turned and grabbed his neck tightly. The man's color scheme was blue jean everything and the pool table was about to be his new bed. She lifted him up quickly and much like Dave Dashing, she brought him down fast and hard enough to break the pool table in the center and knock out the legs at the same time. To her left was a man with a cowboy hat coming at her with a beer bottle and she was about to run at him when her foot touched something and gave her an idea. She looked down to see a number six solid pool ball and with a slight smile she got her toes in front of it and with a cool looking back flip, lifted the ball and sent it straight towards a nose that was about to be broken.

She landed on her feet with her hands on the ground and with a look she noticed a bunch of pool balls just chillin' out on the floor without much to do, so she gave them a job. First she used one in each hand to sort of sandwich a mans head between and after they struck just behind his ears his eyes rolled back into his head and made a sort of gurgling sound. Then like deadly Technicolor shurikens, she threw them with such precision that not a single one missed its target. Ironically in the end she only had the eight ball left and with the last guy standing against the wall looking like he was about to piss himself, she walked over to him and asked, "Why are you still standing?"

The guy was scared so, he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "Lady, I don't want any trouble. You've clearly got some sand in you vagina or something." This was both a very stupid and very wrong thing to say to an enraged woman. His mouth was open a little when she shoved the eight ball in and since it was quick his jaw momentarily stretched wide enough to get it in, however now he was in a dilemma for the ball would not come out without some sort of medical help.

"You were supposed to look stupid and shrug." After telling the man where he went wrong, she pulled back her fist and turned that eight ball in his mouth into a jawbreaker. It was a good thing he landed on his side because if it was his back, the black and white powder in his mouth may have gotten into his lungs and killed him instead of leak out of the side of his mouth.

Shampoo looked around and since no one was really standing anymore she decided to go grab that gun off the table and let herself into the back. Tonight was the night to scientifically prove that Shampoo just didn't like the basic structure of any door ever made. It was her own personal design that she preferred the most and today's special was foot-a-la-wall. Once the dust cleared a sketchy looking woman sat slightly shaking at a table with a tall bottle of something and a cigarette between two fingers. Her skin was a deathly pale white and eyes that looked distant and red. Her skin looked like it was covered in a cold sweat and hanging off her head was stringy dirty blonde hair that was not well kept. Her clothes were wrinkled and in general she looked like hell, but this didn't matter to Shampoo. Only revenge mattered.

Ranma and Hikori were at the Happy Burger Hut having their usual heated discussion over what was better then the other. While Ranma's reasoning got straight to the point, his theories were full of hole, but on the same note Hikori had a know-it-all attitude that didn't bring any belief to Ranma's mind. In the end it came out as it always did. Slowly coasting the car up to the pickup window, punching each other furiously and screaming what was better. "BOXERS!"

"BRIEFS!"

"BOXERS!"

"BRIEFS!"

The lady at the window stood there looking a little confused. "Umm… Sir… You're food…"

"BOXERS!"

"Sir…?"

"BRIEFS!"

"Anyone…?

"BOXERS!"

"Hey that's our guy!" Hikori pointed to some guy in a sweatshirt crossing the street and Hikori floored it, but not before grabbing the food without paying. "Yoik!" Ranma held onto the 'Oh Jesus' Bar above his head as Hikori gunned it around a corner and Hikori had an interesting approach. Where as Ranma would at this point, stop the vehicle and chase the guy down, Hikori just out right ran him down in the middle of the street and then got out of the car. The guy was down on the ground holding his leg in pain and before he was given an explanation he was roughly tossed into the back seat of a reliable car and carried off to an undisclosed location. "Well that was lucky finding him outside the happy burger.

"Man you didn't super-size my meal!"

"Sorry…" One underground parking garage later Hikori was ferociously dragging the guy out of the car and smacking him along the way. "Hey Ranma, pop the hood."

Ranma pulled the latch beneath the steering wheel and that's when Hikori started working his magic. "So what's this I hear about you sellin' coco-puffs to kids?"

"Man I don't know shit about this captain crunch bullshit! You ran me down ya fucker!"

Hikori pushed the man's face onto the hot engine block and slammed the hood down. "I ain't talking about any captain fucking crunch. I ain't talking about any Rice Crispys, Cherios, Mini-Wheats, Corn Pops, or Count fucking Chocula! I'm talking about coco-puffs asshole!"

"AHH! Man what the fuck?" The guy got out quickly trying to sooth the burning his face was experiencing.

"Get back in there!" This time he pressed the guys face onto the burning radiator and with his sleeve he twisted the cap off to get some steam flying. He then slammed the hood down again and yelled. "I'm talking about smokes laced with cocaine!"

The man screamed again and Hikori had to personally pull the guy out himself and slam him against the grill of the car. His hands were shaking as he held his head and he couldn't say much to his defense. "I ain't the only one selling coco-puffs man!"

Hikori grabbed the guy by the hair and got him to his feet. "I know you're not the only one, but it's who you're selling for and who you're selling to."

"Let go man! I don't matter who I sell to!"

"Oh really?" Hikori lifted the hood again and this time threw the poor bugger right in. The hot grease all over the old car's engine was sticky and fiery one his skin and the guy did everything he could to roll out as fast as he could. Once he rolled out and hit the concrete, Hikori pulled some papers out of his coat and stood over him. "Name." He threw a small stack of papers on his face and spoke. "Carmen Vinsfield." He threw another couple papers at him and continued. "You approached her shortly after she lost her children and offered he an escape. You found out about her mental condition and took advantage of her. If she wasn't hook on these little death sticks of yours then she may have had a chance to recover from her loss and condition." He threw some more down. "Origins of business and clients." Again more papers and photos. "Close to high schools and in some cases kids as young as ten to thirteen." The last bit of papers hit the guy on the ground and Hikori put a foot on his chest. "You're a predator. You'll sell anything for any price. Highly addicted yourself, and in the past two years eighty three people have died as a result of your product. I've got some bad news, but you ain't getting' any strikes left, you've used them all up. You have five hours to get out of town and if by then you don't have your shit packed up and gone, then I'm coming back and this time I'll have a fucking machete and cut you off at the fucking knees." He reached down and grabbed the guy's shirt and came nose-to-nose screaming in his face. "How'd you like a peg leg with a kick stand motherfucker?"

"Fuck man I'll leave!"

"Good, and just so you know I'm fucking serious, here's a present." Hikori pulled out a pocketknife and grabbed the guy's hand. He sliced a deep line straight across the palm and finished off with jamming the knife into the guy's shoulder. The man was screaming again but Hikori just talked over him. "You've got four hours and fifty five minutes to get the fuck out of my town. Now get lost!" Hikori wiped the heel of his shoe on the guy's forehead before getting back into the car and grabbing his burger. "Well, we're done, lets mosey on out of here."

Ranma took a sip from his cup and asked. "So, why are you leaving him alive?"

"Maybe he'll go to Jasper before he leaves town, but I've got a guy waiting for him, so he'll be dead soon anyways."

"Oh, ok. Can I have a fry?"

"Sure."

What was currently happening to Carmen was called a beat down. Mrs. Vinsfield was not a fighter like her husband was, nor did she give a lot of resistance. It may have been her already half dead state of mind, but at least she put up her hands to cover herself from time to time. In under a minute Shampoo had her soaked with her own blood. Before Shampoo started the beat down she once again placed the gun down carefully on a table and it was that very gun that Carmen was staring at while Shampoo held her bent over on a table. "You remember me don't you?" Carmen didn't really answer but the face looked a little familiar. She couldn't tell what was what anymore, so she mostly just tried to ignore it. "No? How about this gun? My man pulled that out of your husbands hands after he killed him."

Carmen looked at the gun carefully for a moment and her eyes started to focus a little. "Ned…" Her voice came out soft at first and the only word she could really say now was his name. "Ned…" Then that soft voice became that of a screechy scream of a witch. "Nnnneeeedddd! She pushed Shampoo off of her and snatched the gun off the table. "WHERE'S NED?"

Shampoo got a distance away from Carmen and smiled. "Ned's dead, bitch… Ned's dead…" Carmen screamed as she pulled the trigger and as the revolver's barrel turned and the hammer came down, the gun exploded and blew to pieces right in her on face. Carmen was dead on the floor in under a second with metal and bits lodged in her torso and head. Shampoo just kept smiling as she walked over to the body and started kicking it. "That's yours! And that! And that!" Much like how a cat plays with a mouse while its alive and tosses it around when its dead, Shampoo was that cat having her fun with that dead mouse. After she was done kicking the body she started breaking bottles of booze on it until it was just a bloody body covered in glass and stinking of alcohol. After enough was broken she grabbed a pack of matches from a counter and lit one while a crazy smile. "Burn in hell bitch…"

As the flames started dancing and burning the body, the sound of sirens were coming and this was what Hikori helped her with. She'd run down an alley and take certain corners until she was lost into the night and still unscratched.

A few hours later, after Ranma and Hikori were done with their little scouting mission they returned to the basement of the Casino. "Say, Hikori…"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you want Shampoo to take that gun with her?"

"Just a little bit of ironic revenge."

"Shoot her with her own gun?"

"Sort of. I replaced the bullets with little containers of nitroglycerin. Six the size of a 44. round would be more then enough to kill someone if it went off in front of them, and if it didn't then they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon."

"Twisted… Hey if you're not doing anything on Friday I'm gonna need your help with something."

"Oh?"

"I just need to go pick up a souvenir."

"Will do."

The two went their separate ways in the hall and as Ranma got back to his crowded room, the first thing he noticed was every one asleep and with them on Mousse's chest was a fluffy little cat all curled up. Ranma twitched a little as his body tensed up and he walked off to find a couch to sleep on. "I know it's Shampoo but damn… I've gotta get over this phobia…"

-

-

(Billy Idol – Scream: That's right I've been bad and haven't been updating fast enough. I'll tell you what took me so long. The best damn turkey in the world and a new lava lamp prevented all of this. I'd like to ask that on this coming New Years Eve, you party and party hard. I hear that the harder you party the more tomatoes grow in your garden. No seriously we're talking some big tomatoes. Have fun people.)


	24. Bittersweet Symphony

Bittersweet Symphony

(The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony)

Friday came around and every thing was silent as usual. Shampoo was being oddly quiet as she had been for the last couple of days, but it was to be expected. Bugsy got the report from one of his guy that followed Shampoo and kept an eye on her. He got a lowdown of how the whole bar brawl went and after piecing a few things together he found something out about Shampoo. She's a very direct person. This was where her revenge became sub par at best. Yes she killed Carmen Vinsfield, but killing her wouldn't have been enough for Shampoo's loss. She must have thought that killing Carmen would have made things better, but as most people could tell it didn't help her that much. The fact remained that she had a surprise abortion and now it was eating away at her again. Revenge is suppose to make someone pay for what they've done, but after seeing how weak Carmen was, it was more of a sadistic mercy killing at best. Shit wasn't right in Shampoo's world right now and ideas were storming around in her head.

Behind the scenes Bugsy was watching every one's back with guys undercover. It must have felt like his obligation to them for some reason, but personal feelings didn't matter in the criminal world he lived in. You just did what you had to in order to survive and stay on top. Behind the pretty lights of the city and the casino was a black spot that only those on top could see in its full. In the news you here about a drug bust here or an illegal arms discovery elsewhere, but those are only a select few out of hundreds upon thousands of these events. Every fat cat needs its kill and every dog needs its bone.

Bugsy was this new cash cow in town and all eyes were on him. People who knew Bugsy knew that he didn't let anything slide and if not for his pleasant personality he'd more then likely be another Jasper Garino. He knew how to be ruthless and he knew how to make people disappear. He knew how to lure people and get the right allies. He knew how people thought, walked and talked. The only thing that really set him away from Jasper was his daughter and his kindness. In a sense he was a modern day Robin Hood, taking power away from the greedy and giving it to the right people who wouldn't abuse it. There has to be crime in the world so people who have nothing else to turn to, do have something to turn to. It's not honest work, but it's work nonetheless and without these workers there wouldn't be that thing called the police force.

Bugsy controlled both of these things ever since he got the money to and ever since he got the money he'd been planning on how he could make things better for everyone, but then something else happened. First it started when Jasper took over the syndicate in Liberty City and threw Bugsy out in the middle of Japan to expand revenue. It was just a plot to get people in Liberty City to forget about Bugsy Malone and make way for Jasper Garino. About four months after that Jerry followed Bugsy after being kicked out of the syndicate for a mild sex change, and was forced to take on a petty little street thug organization just to get by. Essentially they were both thrown far away and push to the bottom of the criminal world again and again. That was the first time he started to think of ways to get back.

Bugsy knew that getting rid of the competition was a good idea on Jasper's part, but soon after some kid, who turned out to be Ranma, trashed one of Jasper's bookies, so Jasper felt like unleashing some of his fury upon Ranma and the people around him. It was nothing new for petty street thugs so the deeds were done and the kid was supposed to learn his lesson and fuck off forever. Later on after Ranma left the city, Bugsy was suppose to keep an eye on him for a little while and make sure he didn't stir up any trouble. Bugsy got word that Ranma had hooked up with a computer hacker, an ex-military recon specialist and a runaway from Chicago. He didn't really feel the need to let Jasper know and didn't think much of it himself at first, but a few more months passed and the four were raising in the criminal world like bottle rockets. The name 'Kyoto Hurricane' became a spreading wildfire and in no time after some sort of incident that left a twelve-story building leveled with over eighty people injured. Bugsy sat back and watched where this went and then the best news he'd ever heard came over the phone and into his ears.

Jasper's brother Louis was getting the hell out of Liberty City before his serial rape charges were brought to every ones attention. Basically Jasper bailed him out, sent him to Nerima with a chunk of money and said something like, 'don't fuck up.' The first thing Bugsy did was getting the guy on the phone and telling him that he could use someone like him to help with a few bad depts. Louis shook hands with Bugsy under the condition that no one told his brothers Jasper or Timmy.

It was exactly what Bugsy wanted so he set up Louis with a job to stalk one Sheela Willis to see how this hurricane would react. He set up a scene with Sheela as the bait and an anonymous tip to Ranma. Word had it that Louis got close to losing it and raping Sheela, but Ranma caught him before he could do anything. The scene was nothing close to the recent Chuck Palmer murder, but it was savage nonetheless. It was the first part of Bugsy's revenge to kill off Jasper's brother and make it look like Louis's fuck up. Right after that happened Jasper sent Timmy to keep an eye on things and make sure that Bugsy and Jerry weren't up to no good.

Things stayed slow for a long while and it was really starting to take a toll on Jerry. Timmy seemed to find a great amount of pleasure in terrorizing Jerry and his hard earned assets, and before he knew it, that just became life to them. Living under Timmy's thumb and taking whatever scraps he handed them. While the two were practically Timmy's bitch, Bugsy found out the second reason as to why Timmy came to Nerima. It was so that any one associated with Ranma Soatome would be dragged through hell and put on a short leash. After that he started pulling strings here and there to dig up any info on Ranma Soatome and people associated with him. He acted a little too late on this and many of his former friends and family had already received some sort of punishment for what Ranma had done. Jasper proved that he was willing to destroy anything to get the results he wanted, even if it meant killing unborn children to get his message across. A few months went by with him living in fear for his daughter.

It was hard raking up enough balls to make a move, but eventually he made one. He needed to get himself a hell raiser of sorts and he needed to pay back some people whose lives he ruined. Ranma himself was perfect for the job so he did some more digging. It was a simple plan of bait and trap where he'd give Ranma's old girlfriend a bad dept and make it seem like she was kidnapped. Through his informants and Timmy's ok, Akane agreed to live within the Casino until her dept was paid off with no one knowing she had one. The conditions made it seem like she was held hostage, but later Timmy found out about who Akane was and how she was important to Jasper's plan.

Bugsy was one step behind Timmy again and needed to do something to catch up and stay ahead, so he found a young man by the name of Ryouga Hibiki who was looking for Akane and Ranma. The guy was shit out of luck with his girlfriend in the hospital and no money to spare. Through indirect sources he gave Ryouga an address and got one of his guys to give him a lift when Ryouga decided to hitchhike. After that, things started piecing together smoothly and with Ranma's arrival he started setting up people and events so that Ranma would come to him at some point. First he got one of Jerry's renegades, Drew, to cause a stir in Ranma's world and lead him to Jerry where as through Jerry, Ranma would meet Bugsy. The only problem was that Jerry was late on calling Bugsy about this and Ranma ended up finding him harassing his mom. It wasn't the best of times for Bugsy but he worked with it and got the results he required.

Everything was great until Bugsy made one horrible mistake. It wasn't until Jerry brought up Ryouga's odd behavior that Bugsy pulled some more strings and found out the truth behind Ryouga. Ryouga had two options. Either sell out Ranma and his posse, or Ukyo gets her plug pulled. More digging turned up that Timmy had Ryouga even before Bugsy found out about him and he was playing every one into a deathtrap to save his girlfriend. The sad truth of the matter is, is that the girl from Chicago wasn't suppose to die. Ranma was the only person Ryouga had to take care of, but it turned out as a massive disaster to every one. Sheela Willis was killed, Ranma Soatome was presumed dead and Bugsy had a gun to his head.

Bugsy was fucking up left right and center and now more people were dying. Timmy was taking care of business and everything Bugsy had worked for had just been shit on and flushed down the toilet with everything else. Timmy knew that Bugsy was out scheming, and he thought for sure Jerry was dead, and now his little girl was in danger. Bugsy was on the edge of his seat for nearly two days with erratic thoughts circling his mind, but then he got the first word of good news. Jerry was alive and in hiding, and then the next piece of news came. Not so much news, but more a plea. Ranma Soatome was somehow alive and breathing in the back of the Kitten Club, but needed some immediate, illegal, and expensive surgery. Hikori approached Bugsy with the cry for help and in under a minute Bugsy had his bank account drained and in Hikori's hands.

In the long months of Ranma's recovery, Timmy was out reeking havoc on the city with dealers all over Bugsy and Jerry's old sections of town. Things became a pathetic mess for every one and the only thing he could do to sooth it was knock off some debts here and there and just leave every one in general alone. His human trade industry crashed and burned thanks to the Garino brothers and now the names of Bugsy Malone, Jerry Winchester and the Kyoto Hurricane were becoming nothing more then old stories at the shitty little bar down the street. For a little while all Bugsy had was his little flower shop down on main because he couldn't pay his people to work for him, but it was out of nowhere when things started picking up again.

He received a letter from one of his informants that Ranma was on the verge of breaking loose from his bed and hitting the streets again. It was that same night that Bugsy got a call from someone that Ranma had just killed a bunch of Jasper's men inside the kitten club, killed Timmy Garino a few hours later and was on the highway, higher then a kite and getting ready to charge a police barricade on a motorcycle. Bugsy hung up the phone immediately after that and thought of the only person to call at that point. It was the sender of the letter and his oldest partner in crime, aside from Jerry. Happosia. The old man was an underwear thief/loony for sure, but no one was as old school as him and if there was someone that could find Ranma and get him to safety within the twenty minutes given to him then it would be him.

Ranma may have been in rough shape again, but the point was that he was back in the game and Timmy was out of the picture for good. Bugsy knew that Ranma wasn't going to be back for a few days so he started thinking of ways to make money fast. During this time Bugsy received a generous donation from his long time friend from Vice City. He said he heard about the hard times and that Jasper was on his hit list too, so it was a win-win situation for both of them if Bugsy could take him out. Good old Bugsy new exactly what to do with money. This is were stealing a casino came into play, but the thing Bugsy forgot about was that he had a daughter that would become a target long before he ever would.

Yes stealing the Casino was a success, however Bugsy never saw Jasper coming in that fast for an attack. All hell broke loose within one day of owning Jasper's casino and suddenly he was in a mad panic again. Ranma got word from a washed up Garino named Boris that a maniac named Chuck Palmer had Marci under his 'care.' It was nothing less then a stroke of luck that Jerry figured out where Chuck was, but Jerry was being himself again and decided to take a hands-on approach with dealing with Chuck. As usual Jerry got carried away and wanted to beat down Chuck, probably for what happened to his little brother all those years ago, and as usual Jerry got into a near death situation with his hot headedness. It took Ranma and a nearly retired cop to fix the mess and save Marci, but once again every one was wounded on Bugsy's behalf.

When no one was looking Bugsy managed to freak out and tear apart most of his new office in his fit, but he cooled his boots and took a deep breath. After placing his hands on his hips and looking down he saw a piece of paper he ripped in half and threw on the floor. It said something interesting, but nothing he hadn't heard before. 'Revenge is best served cold and with a side salad instead of the fries you fucking well asked for.' He couldn't even remember who wrote that, or when, but it was in one of his many folders for some reason or another. Either way it got him thinking. What if Jasper's world just suddenly collapsed in on him without any warning whatsoever? What would happen if Jasper were on top one second and the next on the bottom with nothing to show for it? Bugsy needed a plan to catch him off guard in the last place he'd expect.

Bugsy had a word with Nabiki and Hikori over a few issues and found out that Jasper was having sort of a formal party with every crime boss from wintery parts of Eastern Europe to the wild, wild west of the United States and Mexico. Every one was going to be there; the Triads, the Mafia, the Yazuka, the Cartel, the Russian Mob, even the Hells Angels and they were all going to where Jasper was going to be within the next few days. Who the fuck in their right mind would attack a place like that with such a small organization like Bugsy's. International Spies, FBI, CIA, fuck not even James Bond would touch that place even if he had a minigun in one hand, a flame thrower in the other, and a bazooka strapped to his dick along with a couple of big hairy bombs for testicles. It was an accident waiting to happen that was for sure and maybe it was one of Jasper's plans, but Nabiki figured out something most people wouldn't have. If Bugsy attacked with and every one connected to him just sort of vanished then who's to say that it was even Bugsy who attacked to begin with. Nabiki's words were; "That's a lot of conspiracy thrown into one building. Most of them are already enemies so why not spread a few rumors and take them by surprise."

It was a simple yet perfect plan. All of them will be busy trying to figure out who screwed them while Bugsy's boys pick them off. After a little while of thought Bugsy had to smile, Jasper had made both him and Jerry so small time that they seemed like nothing more then a quick fling in the criminal underworld. Nobody remembered Bugsy Malone and Jerry Winchester. It was time to use that to their advantage and feign ignorance on the whole situation. Bugsy's only job was to get every one out of Nerima and prepare for the fight of his life, but before that he had to have a screaming contest with his ex-wife.

Bugsy's ex was in his office wearing more jewelry then she was worth and wearing a few animal skins that could have gone to a better cause like being soaked in gasoline and set on fire. Her hair had hundred dollar highlights throughout it and the way the light came off of it made her kind of look like a creepy eight-legged freak, which is odd really because she shared a similar personality to that of a hissing tarantula. With this said, she wasn't exactly nominated for soccer mom of the year. "I want my daughter back!"

"Fuck you ya dirty dyke! She's safer with me then you." Bugsy wasn't really in the mood to deal with her at this point, however he never seemed to be in the mood anyways.

"Oh, that's rich. A washed up thug like you ain't got the know-how to take care of a child!"

"I don't have the know-how? Where the fuck were you when she needed you?" Bugsy's voice boomed across the room as he slammed a fist on his desk.

"I was in fucking Italy on business-"

Bugsy rolled his eyes because he knew the truth. "Oh, business huh?"

"I was on business and I left her in the care of the babysitter and what do I find when I come home? Police tape and fucking chalk lines!"

"Yeah that what you found TWO WEEKS AFTER SHE WAS TAKEN AWAY BY A FUCKING CHILD MOLESTER!" If the two were green one would be the wicked witch of the west and the other would be the incredible hulk.

"You should have-"

"No shut the fuck up! There was no way to contact you, no fucking phone number, no fucking anything! You were off in Italy fucking whatever hunk of meat managed to worm its way between those dirty ass legs of yours!"

"I was-" Bugsy wasn't gonna let her finish a sentence and he was damn well going to win this fight.

"Want to know who saved Marci? It was a serial killer named Ranma Saotome, AKA the Kyoto Hurricane. Does that bother you that a serial killer is taking better care of my daughter then her mother? Because it sure as hell concerns me."

She crossed her arms and put on the innocent act. "Why do you make me look like such a troll? I'm doing my best with Marci!"

Bugsy laughed and said, "That's a fucking joke if I've ever head one. You know what I found out about Marci? I found out that she can start a bar-b-q and cook a stake. You know who showed her that? ONE OF YOUR FUCKING RENT-A-COPS! RENT-A-COPS ARE NOT FUCKING BABYSITTERS! AND AN EIGHT YEAR OLD SHOULD NOT KNOW HOW THE FUCK TO COOK AND MARINATE A FUCKING STAKE!" This time he got up and kicked his desk over and then started walking towards her slowly with the finger of blame pointed straight at her. "Ever since you took my little girl away from me I've only had visits once every two weeks and so far I've spent more time with her! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT! The only reason you want her is to make my life miserable ya self centered bitch!" Bugsy finally got her cornered against a wall and got his face right in hers. "I'm just wondering; when you gave birth to her didn't some sort a maternal instinct kick in at any given moment or did you just see the dollar bills of my generous child support?"

He kept his eyes on her and a scowl on his face as the silence filled the room. After waiting a few moments he nodded and said, "I thought so." He turned around and walked back to his overturned desk. "Get the fuck out of face and the fuck out of our lives, because you're really shitty at this whole mother thing."

Bugsy knew what was about to come so in the brief moments of silence he had he decided to look for something that made its way onto the ground. Almost right when he found it is when Bugsy's ex decided to explode in one of her usual fit. Watching one of these was much like watching someone stretch their mouth open by six times its own capacity, pop their eyeballs out of their head and shoot long streams or crimson flames directly out their ass. It was truly a sight to be seen. "You fucking asshole! You don't fucking respect me! You don't fucking care about anything! You don't fucking-"

Bugsy pointed a small handgun at her and pulled the trigger. The boom shut her up, but it wasn't because she was dead. He hit a little vase parked on the shelf beside her and said, "That was a warning. In my world I can pay people as little as five hundred bucks to snuff you out and make you disappear. If you don't want to be mistaken for a overdosed hooker in a dumpster I suggest you shake your ass and get the hell out right now." It wasn't like Bugsy to threaten a woman like that, it just wasn't his style, but then again calling her a woman was something of a joke. Either way it got her out in a hurry and Bugsy was doing his best to collect himself.

After Bugsy got his desk looking a little like it did before, Nabiki walked in wearing a nice new suit along with a few papers under her arm. "I've got some good news and some bad news for you Bugsy." Bugsy rubbed his face and asked for the good news first. "Well I got those three a flight out of here with their cut of the money and they don't seem to be complaining. I'm just having trouble with the others. They don't seem to want to leave."

"Ah, don't worry we'll get them out of town before this place goes to hell, we've got time. What's the bad news? Some one didn't get hurt again did they?"

Nabiki just smiled cheerfully. "Oh, well kind of."

Bugsy was expressionless at best. "How does some one kind of get hurt? They're either hurt or not."

"Well one of the CEO's you hired thought I was a secretary and gave me a pat on the ass and asked me to get his coffee for him."

"So you hit him?"

"Not so much me."

Bugsy sunk in his seat and looked ready to cry. "You told Ranma… Ranma hit him didn't he? Is he ok?"

"He only hit him twice…"

"That could mean anything!"

While Bugsy's CEO was in the hospital with a concussion and an eye swollen shut, Ranma was already far away enough to stay out of trouble and get into some more. Ranma, Hikori and some Russian guy were in a stolen firefly going down the street and towards a nice little place that held something wonderful. "You're looking a little tired there Hikori. You ok to drive?"

Hikori's eyes were wide and highly focused on the road. The way he gripped the steering wheel gave off the impression that he was holding on for dear life. "I'm dandy. I'm El Dandy."

The Russian guy gave Ranma a shove. "Is e' always like this?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not normally…"

Hikori turned his head slowly towards them and showed off those tired yet wide open eyes. "I can hear you two, you know?"

Ranma put up his hands. "Sorry. You're just looking a little tired, I'll shut up."

There was a silence in the car and after a while Hikori just sort of started to blurt something out. He looked right at Ranma and said, "You know rice crispy squares? Melted marshmallow and all that?"

Ranma nodded, "Uhhh… Yeah."

"Well last night I couldn't sleep, so I made a life size bull out of Captain Crunch after I found out we didn't have any rice crispies. So I used Captain Crunch instead."

"Uhhh… Ok…"

"While I made it I stuffed a fuck load of strawberry's inside and-"

Ranma interrupted him. "Where'd you get all the materials for this?"

Hikori went into deep thought for a moment and came up with, "There was a convenient store just around the corner. And they had Captain Crunch and marshmallows. And Strawberry's."

"Right…"

The Russian guy tapped Ranma's shoulder. "Is not normal, no?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not really…"

Hikori was in his own little world as he drove. "So after I made it I started making a spear out of fruit loops."

"This is really starting to explain the mess this morning…"

"And when I was done, I attacked the bull and pulled out the strawberry heart and then I bit into… I declared myself the Queen of France after that… Yeah… Last night was wild…"

There was another odd, uncomfortable silence in the car until Ranma said the only thing he could. "Hikori, I'm not entirely comfortable with you driving right now."

Hikori looked at Ranma with a really confused look. "Why…?"

After a forced stop and a change in seating arrangements, Ranma was now driving with the Russian guy beside him and Hikori passed out in the back seat. "Man is quite scary. What you think his problem being?"

"I have no clue Uri, but I've seen him like that only once before and even then it was a complete mystery to me."

"Is too bad. Must be bad for health."

"Hikori will be Hikori… So what brings you to Nerima? And how did you know where to find my car?"

Uri shrugged a modest shrug. "Ah, I hear that my brother Boris die, so I come to pay respects. I find out from Bugsy that he helped you find Palmer and died, so I'm thinking I help too."

Ranma looked a little shocked. "Boris was your brother? Man, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to save him…"

Uri looked a little sad, but kept a smile on his face. "Is no big deal. He use to be Mr. Big-Time in Russian, but when he come here, not so much. I hear that even though he try to make by, he still save girl from bullet. My brother no ever had brain in head, but had good heart, no?"

Ranma nodded in agreement and looked down a little. "Check that, he took a bullet for me and I never gave him a reason too…"

Uri's expression became surprise but he kept his features the same. "Take bullet for you, huh? Is great gift when man gives life for other… Take my advice and use time well. Men like us, don't last too long."

"Yeah…" Ranma turned a corner and came to something of a downsized mansion. "Is this the place?"

Uri nodded, "Da. Man who live here bought your car at police auction. I hear he is push over."

"Maybe, but he's got money and that usually buys security…"

Uri stopped for a moment and thought. "I think we have money too, right?"

Ranma hit his head. "Oh, yeah I keep forgetting that we're rich." Ranma reached back and rolled Hikori off the seat to reveal a duffle bag he was using as a pillow. Ranma's expression lightened up. "Yay. Things that shoot and stab."

Uri looked a little confused. "We killing people over car?"

Ranma pulled out a couple of guns with silencers. "Lord no. We got some nifty high tech tranq guns."

Uri looked confused. "What this word mean?"

"Darts that put people to sleep."

Uri shook his head. "No I mean 'nifty'. Sound like animal porno."

"Oh, uhh… It means… Uhh… Er…" Ranma started to look a little mad. "You know what? Screw it, lets just go shoot shit."

Uri shrugged "Ok."

As Ranma shot the last unsuspecting target into slumber, he found the garage and saw it for the first time. It was the car Sheela made for Ranma before she died and it was a beauty. He walked slowly towards it with a smile on his face and ran a finger down the sleek steel body. It was his favorite shade of red with a big old white stripe going up the long hood, over the roof and down the trunk. A couple of mean looking round headlights were up front and the grill above the radial tires screamed awesome. A big old blower plated with the same chrome on the hubcaps, shined and glittered in the soft light. Towards the back and above the mean bumper was a custom tag that labeled the beast as a 'Saber Turbo Custom Deluxe'. The moment would have been perfect if Ranma was the first one to get inside, but out of nowhere Hikori opened the door, flipped forward the front seat and climbed into the back where he passed out again. "You fucker!"

Uri shrugged and got in after Hikori. "Is nice car, very roomy. I'm liking the black leather bucket seats."

Ranma's eyes nearly shot out of his head as he watched both Hikori and Uri perform taboo unto his car. "You're both fuckers!" Ranma got in and slammed the door with anger written all over his face.

"What is problem?"

"I'm hot wiring it, go away."

"So rude when angry…"

After a few 'fucks', and 'shits' Ranma brought the car to life and started to smell something both memorable and momentarily horrible. He knew what it was right away and without even looking he reach back and gracefully plucked the smoke out of Hikori's mouth. "No smoking in my car!"

Uri had a smoke in his mouth with a flame frozen inches away from it as Ranma turned his head and glared at him to. "Ok, I no smoke…"

"Good." As Ranma revved the engine a few times the garage door seemed to open on its own, which was pretty sweet, but the part that made it suck was that there were a few guys with guns on the other side. "Oh, fu-"

Before Ranma could finish his sentence, the two guys opened fire right at them causing both Ranma and Uri to duck. A few deafening shots went off and for a moment Ranma thought for sure someone must have been hit, but the thing was that there was a lack of broken glass. He looked up at the windshield to see three lovely little scuffmarks. Uri caught on first though. "Is bulletproof glass?"

"I love you Sheela…"

"Mine name is not Sheela…"

Ranma ignored him and hit the gas hard. The beast was powerful and full of piss n' vinegar, but the thing that Ranma found astonishing was that the tires tried to move so fast that it actually became easier for the car to just lift up the front end while the tires caught up to the spinning motion. A heavy black patch was laid in the garage and the Saber came rocketing out while doing a catwalk and hitting one of the guys standing in front. Ranma's reflexes kicked in and he hit the brakes to bring the car to a stop. "That… Was… COOL!" It was about that point where the back-up security came on out to try their thing.

Uri pointed forward. "Is not looking good. Gate over there! Hurry!"

"Right!" Ranma hit the gas and did that two tire jive again. The gate was closed but didn't look all that tight, and as they approached the front tires hit the ground just in time for the front to bust through the gate. There were sparks, fire, gunshots, and if they had a six-pack and some moonshine it would have been a Hill Billy hoedown. The gunshots followed the three down the street until they faded away into the distance to become nothing more then wasted lead. A car came after them after some time but Ranma lost the tail after going into a dark end of town. It wasn't that it was a bad section of town; it was just that there were very few residents and very few streetlights and with the night sky coming in fast it was a good place to lay low for a little while.

Slowly a light rain started to fall in on the city and the rocky streets quickly became spotty and wet. Ranma decided to pull out of his little back road and take a slow ride back to the casino. The beads of water started to quicken their pace and dark blue clouds above the city started filling out into big treacherous things. Ranma stayed quiet as he drove the car thinking about Sheela. It was all those little moments that he remembered best about her, but as he drove with the wipers on, they just brought him back after every pass. He wanted to get his mind off of her even though is pained him to do so. He turned on the radio to a talk radio station that said some interesting stuff.

"…the man can follow his path down the road of fate, or else he can sway from that and enter the dark woods of the unknown. We are not bound to what is in front of us and in more ways then one we can break this wall down and walk boldly through it. Do you hear me, or am I just speaking to myself?" The voice on the radio went quiet for a few moments and only the slight buzzing of the bad reception could be heard. "You must not let others decide for you and become independent in this thing we call life… Think about that Mr. H and then decide what is right and what is wrong." A few moments passed and another voice came on.

"That was Larry Jackson with yet another powerful message. If you weren't here for the full of it then allow me to go over what he said quickly."

"What station is this?" Uri asked.

Ranma shrugged and tuned it to another. "Sounded like some guy promoting bean dip. Nothing important."

"Ok."

Just as the rain let up, Ranma pulled up to the valet parking and told the kid to just pull the wires apart to stop the car. Uri was holding Hikori up and walking him into the casino. "You drunk? On the cocaine? Is bad for you."

Hikori just made a moan and while that was going on Ranma heard a honking horn and turned to see Nabiki pulling up, both suspiciously fast and towards a puddle. "That bitch…" A small dirty tsunami hit Ranma right in the face as Nabiki parked her flashy car and got out. Ranma was short, had boobs, and was not happy. "Two weeks… I almost went two weeks without changing!"

Nabiki kept and innocent look on her face. "Oh, did I do that? Oh well, no time for that right now. I've been looking for you."

Ranma's eye twitched and she said, "I don't have the money yet…"

Nabiki shook her head. "Oh, I wasn't thinking about that, but I think we can discuss it later. For now I've got some information for you."

"…"

"What?"

"I don't have the money yet…"

"I'm not asking for money."

Ranma thought for a moment. "I don't want to owe you any favors…"

Nabiki had that 'I hate you and you're stupid' look on her face and she was directing it right at Ranma. "Let's just go inside and I'll explain."

"Is this another one of your 'get fit' ideas, because that whole thing with Kuno last week was a horrible idea."

Ranma remember back to last week and it went something like this, "O' lo, thou, art thou, art."

"Get that fucking stick out of my face…"

"Put up your sword, for you stand no chance! Thou, art, thou."

"Fine…" Ranma got the sword into the ready position.

"Remember, you may only strike and defend with the sword. Thou, thou, art. I STRIKE!"

The embarrassing part was that Ranma didn't like swords and if the rules were to only strike with the sword, then he was out of practice. Every so often Kuno would get Ranma on the hand with quick hit that left a hell of a sting. This kept happening along with various taunts until Ranma decided to forget the rules, just this once. "THAT'S IT!" Kuno's wooden sword came down swift and right into Ranma's catching hand.

"Umm, you're not suppose to-"

Ranma ripped the sword out of his hands, broke it in half over his knee and walked slowly towards Kuno with a pissed look. "You have unleashed the fury!" In about thirty seconds Kuno was pummeled, battered, bruised, bleeding and hanging out of a tree like an unwanted rag doll. "That'll learn ya!"

Nabiki shook her head. "It was purely for my own entertainment, I swear. Anyways let's get inside and-"

Nabiki was interrupted when the long forgotten Zero ran out and towards Ranma. "I've finished it! It's done! And I'm am a technological god!"

Ranma looked at him for a few moments and said, "What the hell are you going on about?"

"It's the thing I thought to make when no one else would have even remembered. It's a reverse GPS that hooks from the satellite and after giving specific serial numbers it displays locations of what ever it hosts! Isn't it amazing?"

Ranma looked at Zero with a little bit of confusion. "Zero what the fuck are you talking about?"

Zero opened a little screen and started pointing at in frantically. "Remember that GPS I made for Ryouga?"

"Yes."

"I can find him with this if he's still wearing it."

Ranma went very silent for a moment and nodded a couple of times. "I see…"

"It's not perfect yet though. If you give me a few days I should be able to get rid of all the car GPS's running off the same satellite. The watch had a unique design so it should be easy to single out after I eliminate a few."

"Ok… Ok…" Ranma was in deep thought and nodded a few more times. "Get it ready for me as soon as you can. You're the man Zero."

"I know this." Zero said modestly.

Ranma turned back to Nabiki with a bit of a preoccupied look. "What were you going to say?"

Business was business in Nabiki's world so she just spat it out. "The Amazon's have flown back to China, and mine and your parents are catching a flight to Kyoto."

Ranma blinked a couple of times and looked really confused. "Huh? What? Why?"

"Bugsy got them out of here so they wouldn't be pegged for what's happening next week."

Ranma went into thought for a moment and things were starting to hurt again. No goodbyes, no warning, they just up and left. Was anyone else planning on leaving? Were people going to stab him in the back again? 'Nah, they were just getting out of harms way, right?' That all too familiar feeling of someone yanking him around made its way to the pit of his stomach and made him feel sick, but he didn't want to think Nabiki would try to screw him like this. 'What about Akane? Is she going to leave me alone too?' Was she just going to run away with every one else while Ranma fought the war by himself? 'Then again, next week will be hell on earth…' Ranma looked up at the sky for a moment just as the rain started to come back and asked. "So how come no one told me about this?"

"I just did."

Ranma thought to herself. 'You know that's not what I meant… What the hell's going on all of a sudden?'

-

-

(The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony: Well, I took a month off from writting, and now I'm back. I'm a little sad though. This story is going to end soon and I don't want it too. Guys, this blows, but I guess I gotta finish it at some point.)


	25. My Way Or The Highway

My Way Or The Highway

(Limp Bizkit – My Way Or The Highway)

Ranma had it figured out. Within one day three families close to him skipped town, and within the following week more and more people around him were fleeing without warning. The Amazon's were gone, then Soun, Kasumi, and Doctor Tofu were gone, as well as his mother and father. Detective Willis hadn't been heard from for a couple of days, and when Ranma tried finding him, he found a packed house and a note. They all took their cut of the money and just went away leaving Ranma with a full plate of cooks n' criminals without even saying goodbye or good luck. He was starting to feel too much like a disposable grunt and not enough like a normal person, but then again, he'd never been all that normal. It was decided a while ago that he was going to be the one to face off with Jasper and square things up once and for all, hell he'd argue if it were any other way, but there were things that were giving him the willies all over. Just little signs here and there that things were going to go bad and rotten again. Maybe it was because Nerima had actually gone quiet for a day, maybe it was because every one was standing back and waiting for something to happen. Shifty eyes were on the streets left, right and center, because word of a certain meeting was taking place very soon. It was in fact happening within the next three hours.

The only people comforting Ranma were Akane whom decided to stay behind, Ukyo whom had nowhere else to go, along with the king and queen, Bugsy and Jerry. Nabiki was catching a flight with Kuno within an hour to no one knew where, and things were looking dark. The plan was going to start up soon and once it started, there was no turning back. In a sense the city was going to be purged of what was still in it and maybe things might go back to the way they were, but highly unlikely. Ranma was going to wait maybe an hour or two before he went to go settle a beef he had and as it turned out, those two hours turned out to be the longest of his life. The waiting was killing him from the inside out, and he just wanted to get everything over with. Just for no reason he'd feel itchy on his legs or face and sometimes have hot hands against his head that wanted to be cold. Probably what made the wait so long was the fact that within a week, Uri still hadn't caught on to how Ranma changed from time to time and he was currently hitting on her.

It was annoying and Ranma wanted to hit him, but he just didn't know so it'd just be cruel. The only alternative was to spill her drink on herself, go to the bathroom, change, and wander off without Uri knowing. He was a good guy, had a few motives that nobody knew about, sort of like Bugsy, but fuck was he annoying at times. It was after he went into the underground parking lot and into his car that the seconds really started to drag. Zero made him a little thing out of an old game boy that displayed Ryouga's location. He was a little pink dot that seemed to wander around the city at Random with no real direction, it was amazing that Ranma never bumped into him, but after watching the screen for a while he figured that Ryouga must have been in some underground tunnels like those that belong to the subway. The big clue was that occasionally he'd be right in the middle of a road and other times he'd be cutting straight across a building. Ranma had to put the thing away because it was making him too anxious. He wanted to go straight to Ryouga right away and bust his skull open, but he knew he had to wait before he made a big noise, which is exactly what him and Ryouga would make.

Ranma had to get his mind off Ryouga so he turned on some music. Ukyo had no clue what was going to happen in Nerima tonight and she sure as hell didn't know what was going to happen with Ryouga. Ranma thought long and hard over all the details, but in the end he was just going to have to wing it. Revenge is such a bitch when you've got such a tight schedule.

The music wasn't helping the time go any faster and he started tuning to radio to the next station. The music just wasn't right for his mood, so he kept changing it until everything became a distorted jumble of half words and momentary sounds of songs until a familiar voice came on. He stopped the dial just in time to hear what Mr. Jackson was going to say.

"We live in a society where we are governed by our needs and wants. It's like we are addicted to the drug of greed. However what we see is not greed, but a soft light of hope. This is an illusion created to comfort us in our time of need, but what do we honestly need? Do we need that beautiful woman? Do we need that brand new car? What about money? Do we need money to fulfill ourselves?" His words came natural and powerful to him as he talked a confusing storm of sense. "A man left for dead will find a way to survive until his job is done and if he doesn't… Then he will be damned… We're all trying to get by in this world of struggle, and I'll be honest. Only the strong shall make it, but let us never forget those who tried. Those who left legacies, and legends. Those who loved his fellow man and worshiped the life that was given to him. Let us never forget those who made our world a little better with what they could give. I'm talking to you again Mr. H. What do you have to say now?"

Larry was starting to get boring, so Ranma adjusted the dial again to some random sounds and static until he heard a knock on his window. He looked over to see Akane's smiling face through the window. He rolled it down to hear what she had to say. "So what are you doing down here all alone in your car?"

Ranma shrugged. "Just trying to get away from everyone. I've had a lot on my mind."

"I don't blame you… Mind if I join you?"

"You don't need to ask." Ranma reached over and unlocked the passenger side door. Akane got in and quickly sunk into her seat. "So you were looking for me or something?"

Akane went a little quiet for a few seconds and cut right to the chase. "Ranma… There's something going to happen tonight isn't there?"

"Yup. What tipped you off? Was it the fact that every one was trying to get out of town before today, or was it Nabiki." The comment was said with some sarcasm, but he didn't mean to offend.

"Bugsy has been giving every one plane tickets and a lot of money. I've even talked with Ukyo and she knows something is going on as well."

Ranma's eye became empty as he looked out the window at nothing in particular. "I'm going to be honest Akane. It's better if you don't know. Right now you aren't in any real danger unless you're with me, and if I do tell you, then things are going to be complicated." He finally turned to her and looked her straight in the eyes. "You'd best be leaving town as well."

Akane crossed her arms and gave him that angry look he hadn't had for a while. "I just want to know what's going on, you don't have to be such a jerk…"

"I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm trying to protect you." Ranma didn't need an argument right now and even if it had been about two and a half years since the last one, it still wasn't long enough.

"Maybe you should just stop worrying about me and just trust that I won't get into trouble! You treat me like such a kid!"

Ranma rubbed his head and asked, "You really wanna know?"

Akane's arms were crossed and she was as stubborn as ever. "Yes."

Ranma shrugged. "Ok. How's this for ya? Every head honcho from every big gang from here to Timbucktwo is here in Nerima right now. Jasper's gathered them for a business meeting of some kind, but what Bugsy and Jerry figure is that a big gang war is going to happen eventually. All those guys are going to end up fighting one way or another, so Bugsy decided we should just get them fighting as soon as possible."

Akane was having a hard time believing what she was hearing and her eyes were wide. "Tonight?"

"Everything is going down tonight, and there's going to be lots of fireworks. Every one has a job of some kind, but I'm the one loose cannon tonight."

"What do you mean, loose cannon?"

Ranma smiled something that spelled irony. "No one wants to get blamed for setting every gang here tonight against each other, so naturally I'm going to be the one getting all the blame."

"What? Why you?"

"Because I don't have a hell of a lot to lose."

Akane hit Ranma's arm hard and said, "What about me? What about your friends?"

"You mean the ones that took a first class flight and left me here alone, or the ones that stabbed me in the back?"

"I'm still here with you!"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah…" And leaned towards her. "But that's only because you were oblivious."

Akane was hurt with that line. "You really think of me like that…? You really think I wouldn't be here if I knew?"

"Nobody else is, other then Ukyo."

Akane went quiet for a second and shook her head at him. "You don't get it do you…?"

"Probably not…"

"I love you Ranma… Can't you see that?"

Ranma turned away from her and sunk into his seat. "Yeah, I know… But I'm probably not going to make it out of this alive… You should really find someone else… We were over a long time ago anyways…"

And there she had it. Ranma's answers to her love; find someone else. There were many ways to break a heart and many ways to repair it, but this was one of those heartbreaks that caused it to be absolutely FUBAR. The tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at an almost emotionless Ranma. She couldn't tell if it was some sick joke or if that was really his answer. "You're joking, right…?" Ranma remained silent and didn't say a word until she could only do the one thing she could think of. Smack him hard and call him a fucking jerk.

Ranma knew he was going to be hit, that part didn't change. He knew he was going to be called a jerk. He also knew something Akane didn't. "Why would I be joking Akane? I'm as good as dead after tonight."

"That's no excuse! You always pull through! What's so different about now?"

Ranma didn't like her yelling in his ear, but since this was going to be his last night on earth, he was going to let it slide. "This is just something I can't pull through from."

"Why not?" Akane looked like she was getting ready to hit him again.

"Think about it Akane… I'm going after Jasper tonight, as well as every one else. If Jasper doesn't get me, then the Cartel will, and if they don't then it'll be the Hashins, and if not them, then the Mafia, and if not them then the police, and if not them then the FBI. Don't you see yet? I've been left as the guy who's gonna pick up everyone else's tab tonight. I'm fucked, plain and simple."

Then Akane hit him with some serious logic. "Then walk away from it! What are you trying to prove?"

"You know what I'm gonna prove…?" Ranma just smiled and put a knee on the steering wheel. "I'm gonna show everyone from every corner of the globe that if they fuck with my home town, then they will be paying the price. It's my big dilemma Akane. I know I'm screwed tonight, but at the same time I want to be the one that shields everyone else from this."

Akane was at a loss for words, "But we can take care of ourselves…"

"Oh, really?" Ranma went into his head and dug it all up. "Then I guess that's why the dojo was burned down. I guess that's also why the Kuno family went bankrupt. Our family's being forced into crappy little apartments must have been in the cards as well. Maybe that's why Nabiki was a stripper, she was just taking care of herself. Ukyo was in a chemical induced coma while Ryouga was made into Timmy's little lap dog, I suppose he was handling it as best he could… Tell me honestly Akane…" Ranma paused for a moment with a lump in his throat and thought about taking back his words but went on anyways. "Was Shampoo taking care of herself when that horrible thing happened to her?"

"But… But you weren't here when that happened… You can't blame yourself for that…"

"Exactly… I wasn't here…" Akane went deafly silent and couldn't speak a word of defense. Ranma's eyes started to go red and a tear rolled down his cheek. "And while I was out fixing everyone's lives, I couldn't find the time to save my best friend and wife to be…" He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and went into a rambling confessional. "Did you know I asked her to marry me…?"

Akane looked away and was getting ready to cry with him. "Y-yes…"

Ranma reached over and turned her face towards his. "You know why I asked her to marry me…?" Akane shook her head and didn't want to hear the answer. "Because I thought it would have been the honorable thing to do after I found out that I was the one that knocked her up… That's why…"

Akane coughed as she cried with him and started to curl up in her seat. "Sh-she was…"

Ranma leaned forward and put his forehead on the steering wheel as he sniffed and started punching the dashboard. "You know what it's like to know you've failed before you even got the chance…? It's fucking horrible… Its worse then anything I've ever felt…" Ranma's teeth clenched and he was getting ready to break the wheel right off. "I'd rather be covered in tar, burn alive, and shot in the teeth then ever feel that way again… And you want me to walk away now… Fuck you… Fuck you Akane…"

"I… I didn't know…"

"Who the fuck would? You're the only person I've told. I'm a fucking failure and this is the only thing I can do now that's worthwhile…" He turned his head to her again, showing soaked cheeks. "For god's sake Akane, please… Please don't give me any more reason's to love you… Just let me have this Akane… I need it…"

She reached over and held onto his arm tight. "I won't let you go… Not if you're going to die… I can't let you…"

There was a moment of silence and the thought of talking sense into Ranma started to enter her mind, but it was shattered the instant she heard a click. She looked up and stared to see Ranma with a gun under his chin. "If you don't let me go, then I'll blow my own fucking head off right here, right now."

"R-Ranma…! Don't start acting crazy!"

"I've been crazy for a while now Akane… Now get out of the car before you make me feel bad for making you watch me blow my head to pieces." Once again, she couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but fact remained that he had a loaded gun to his head and he was sounding pretty depressed. It was the best choice to save his life for just a little longer, but she was going to figure out a way to save him before this was all over. She opened the door and stepped out slowly and as she did she was given on last message. "If you start thinking about how you're going to get me out of this, then stop now. If you die then I die, just remember that." The door closed and the car started up and with that he was gone.

Ranma managed to leave fifteen minutes earlier then he was supposed to but that only gave him a little more time to deal with other things, such as the little pink dot coming closer and closer to him on his radar. He was pissed and he was only going to get more upset later on with events going as they were. From the looks of things Ryouga was on the other side of the city underneath a little building out in the middle of nowhere. Judging by how still he was, it must have been his little hideout or something, but as Ranma came closer to the so called dead part of town, he noticed that within the dark streets that were little glimmers of light scattered in the side streets. All the buildings were somewhat on the verge of falling down and he was lucky if he found a street light anywhere. Occasionally he'd see a light on up high in a building, but it was the kind of light that came from a campfire, all wavy and orange. All of Nerima had been made to look like shit ever since all the gangs came into town, but this little spit of land on the edge of the city was in sheer devastation. There was garbage everywhere, no power, and there was even an old rusty car wrapped around a half fallen over telephone poll. It was as if the entire section of town had just been forgotten about, either that or no one in their right mind came here anymore unless they were forced too. Bums in the allies, an occasional hooker, and gang tags told that this was the place where only the dirtiest of dealings went down. The only question was why the fuck Ryouga was there.

Ranma parked just outside of the building Ryouga was in and popped the truck. Everything from the spare tire to that old jacket every one seems to have in their trunk, was taken out, moved, and replaced with quite the arsenal. Jerry loaded Ranma up for the night and gave him a nifty new Kevlar vest with attachments that held all sorts of goodies. The thing was a snug fit but it would stop bullets and hold his guns, so he wasn't going to complain too much. He loaded himself up with the essentials, closed the trunk, put on his coat, and activated his new anti-theft devise.

No lights were on up top of the building, so after circling around half way he found a staircase leading down to the basement along with a rhythmic beat coming from below. He could see a red light below so he stepped slowly as the beat got louder and when he finally got to the bottom he saw the doors to hell with two big guys in suits standing in front of it. One gave Ranma a look and said he'd never seen him around here before and asked for some password. Well, Ranma didn't have a password, secret handshake, or the mating call of a bull moose, just a gun with a lot of ammo, so he decided to be resourceful. He drew his gun fast and the two only got to place their hands on theirs by the time Ranma shot. He aimed for the legs so it wouldn't be attempted murder, and took their clips from them while they rolled around. Ranma needed them to shut up and one of the two suits had the porn star handlebar mustache, meaning duck tape was going to be used and to the fullest extent. Duck tape is an amazing thing, you can use it to shut them up, tie them up and patch them up all in one go.

Ranma put his hand on the handle and started to get that bad feeling again. It was that feeling he got just before Sheela died, it was the feeling of something just not being right in the air. That feeling in his gut was telling him something was up and he needed to be smart right about now. Ryouga hadn't moved on the radar for the past thirty minutes and this just didn't seem like a place to just fall asleep. Things were going on, there were bad people, and the sound of loud music. He swallowed the bad lump in his throat and started pulling the door open slowly. The music got a little louder and a short dark hallway came to his eyes, so he decided to get in quick and close the door before anyone noticed him. He kept his back to the wall and slid across it with cautious steps until he came to the end that looked out into the club, and who did he see right away? It was that bastard Ryouga behind one of the counters wearing an apron and being yelled at by some guy in a cowboy hat. From the looks of things, Ryouga was getting by as a dish bitch, or as the optimistic see it an Aquatic Porcelain Technician, but not just any dish bitch, a dish bitch at some high roller crime lord hangout. Must have had something to do with Jasper and that would explain why Ryouga hadn't moved on the radar for so long, but still… That bad feeling… What was it?

Ranma took his eyes off Ryouga for a moment and looked around. All the faces were new, but the things they held were not. Guns, knives, and things that you wouldn't normally find in a tickling contest, were on the sides and in the jackets of every one here. The place was fully loaded and would probably give Rambo a boner if someone had a bazooka kicking around in his or her back pocket. It was a matter of getting across the room to the guy with the bandana without getting shot. It was after that thought that Ranma realized something. Well, not so much realize as he noticed it. Looking at some of the ugly mugs around the joint he noticed that there were a few too many people sitting alone and other then focus on their drinks, they were focusing on everything else. There were shifty eyes everywhere, sort of like the ones on the streets, but a bit different. These shifty eyes weren't looking to stay away from trouble; they were looking to get into it.

Then it hit him like a cold fish to the face. Ryouga was a plant waiting for Ranma and more then half these guys were Jasper's private bounty hunters. The way you can tell your average money grubbing bounty hunter from the low profile professionals was that the pros had character traits. Something small that held them apart from every one else. A good example would have been the guy in the far corner with the bollard hat and ace of spades tucked into it. For the sake of argument his name will be Charlie Chaplin and sitting beside him was his opposite. A big burly fucker now nicknamed Meatloaf. Meatloaf has tattoos and a glass eye. He's seen action. Over on center stage was the ladies man, Antonio, on a sofa with six women; he wore leather and lots of it with slicked back hair and a pair of flashy aviators. He would have fit in one of those weird German sex fetish places really well. On the other side of the place from Charlie Chaplin and Meatloaf was a small gang. At first glance one would think they were just a bunch of guys out to get drunk, but none of them had drinks and they all had matching jackets, and would now be referred to as The Greasers. Now Ranma had limited resources and he'd more then likely only seen about half of who he should of, but he was growing impatient and thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone. It involved a grenade. Now he just needed to know how many people wanted to kill him.

Ranma stepped out into the light and fired a shot into the roof. Every one in the club stopped and after a few moments, so did the music. "Hello. My name is Ranma Soatome, also known as the Kyoto Hurricane. Who wants to kill me?"

The place immediately came alive with the sounds of guns being cocked and loaded, and after Ranma saw pretty much every one take out a gun, he found his job, just that much easier. Ryouga was paralyzed and confused with what was going on. He saw Ranma and got scared, like as if he'd seen a ghost or a phantom, but the most puzzling thing was that the Phantom chucked something across the room to him. It was round, easy to catch and was missing a pin. Ryouga's eyes went wide and the thing fumbled around in his hands for a few seconds before he screamed and threw it back at Ranma. Everyone watched the thing fly over their heads and most people already figured out what it was and decided to duck and cover. As it came close to the center of the room, Ranma took deadly aim and fired a single round into it. After that it was a sudden ball of fire and smoke along with a few people flying back and hitting the floor dead.

In truth Ranma was expecting just a little more fire and destruction, not just a black empty spot on the floor with everything pushed away from it, but on the bright side there was debris and a couple tables had fire coming off of them. Ryouga still stood on the other side of the counter trying to figure out what was going on and while Ryouga spent his time being astonished, Ranma used his time to make a straight b-line to Ryouga and kick his ass.

By the time Ryouga was looking forward again, the first thing he saw was Ranma flying at him over the counter with his right knee coming right to Ryouga's dumbfounded face. When the front of his head was full of Ranma's knee and the back of it being forced through empty glasses and a wall, a sudden though hit him. He shot Ranma five times and killed Sheela, and all this time he thought both were dead. It had been three, coming onto four months since the incident and he was just starting to get over the nightmares, but now all that recovery had gone to waste and while he was getting his head forcefully shoved through a cheap piece of drywall, he started feeling just a little horrified again. In fact, he became so horrified that he played off of instincts and swung his fist out for a heavy blow across Ranma's jaw.

Ryouga was halfway through a wall when he reached out with a blind shot and hit Ranma off of him. It was a hard hit, just like it always was in the old days. That umbrella waving fruit always had strength on his side and as usual he wasn't afraid to use it. Ranma found himself rolling over the counter and hitting the floor while seeing stars. It had been a while since he had a hit like that, but after a few shakes of the head his eyes focused and the first thing he saw was a gun pointed at him. He moved his head just in time and punched however it was square in the nuts. The guy fell over with a squeak of pain to show that the ladies man Antonio was in fact dead, but to Ranma's surprise, he wasn't the bounty hunter. It was the six ladies that were around him. He could tell, because they were all packing heat and pointing it in his general direction. Before the fire came, he reached up for the lip of the counter and pulled himself over in a half assed back flip, only to land squatting beside Ryouga. Bullets hit the bar and Ranma's eyes turned to slits as he lunged at Ryouga.

Ryouga started running backwards and blocked Ranma's hits until he felt a chair break across his back. He fell to his knees and saw Ranma's shoes only for a moment, and with a solid kick from one of those shoes, he saw the ceiling as well as Ranma jumping over him. It was Meatloaf that hit Ryouga, and Ranma gave him a shot to the side of the head as he flew by and came swinging at Charlie Chaplin, whom had a butterfly knife and a gun. Mr. Chaplin dodged the first few punches, but fell victim to a fake left hook turned into a fast right jab. The hat came right off as he staggered back, but he pointed his gun in the closest direction and took a blind shot. It missed Ranma but found a nice happy home in Meatloaf's foot.

Ryouga decided to leave Ranma be for now and focus on the guy holding him over his head. Ryouga was about to be thrown into the jukebox when a convenient bullet lodged itself into Meatloaf's foot. Ryouga was dropped onto his back but got up right away with a swift kick to the big guy's knee. There wasn't a snap after the kick, which was odd, but instead there were a pair of burly hands wrapped around his neck choking the life out of him and the only thing Ryouga could think was what was wrong with his damn eyes. One was looking at him and the other was looking only god knows where, and the smile he had was very discouraging. The smile quickly changed to a look of worry and Ryouga had to look behind him. It was Charlie's Angels, all six of them in the firing squad formation and getting ready to fire again. Ryouga put on his patented 'OH SHIT!' look and the world started spinning fast, but it wasn't because he was dizzy, it was because Ranma grabbed Meatloaf's shoulder and spun him. Meatloaf quickly turned into Meat Shield as the slugs buried into his back. The grip in Ryouga's neck loosened and just over Ranma's shoulder, he saw a badly beaten Charlie Chaplin getting ready to stick a knife into Ranma's back.

It was out of instinct the Ryouga picked up the closest thing and wailed Mr. Chaplin with it. Now most people would pick up something off the table, like a bottle or plate, but Ryouga just didn't play like that. He picked up the entire table with one hand and cracked Charlie one, and as he did so a sting of fear went through his entire body because Ranma press the side of his gun against Ryouga's head and pulled the trigger. Chaplin was down and out, as well as one of the Greasers behind Ryouga. The gun was hot and smoking against Ryouga's head and Ryouga couldn't tell if Ranma was looking at him, or passed him, but he sure as hell was saying something to him. "I bet you were hoping I was dead."

Ryouga's head shook as he found it hard to find words. "I didn't mean too… It wasn't suppose to happen like that…"

"Fact is, Ryouga, you sold me out and killed my fiancé. It would be a shame if anything happened to Ukyo."

Ryouga's eyes went wide and his fists went tight. "You stay the hell away from her… You keep our business between the two of us."

"Then you better pray to god you can kill me first. I took five bullets and I'm still walking. Think you can do it again?"

Ryouga's teeth started grinding and his head was getting hot. "You have every right to want to kill me, but bringing her into this… What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You didn't seem to mind bringing Sheela into this."

Ryouga had it and knocked Ranma down with cheap shot. "No! You brought her into this!"

Ranma was on the ground giggling to himself as he wiped the blood off the side of his mouth. "Is that what you tell yourself every night before you go to bed?"

"She's in a coma you sick fuck! Leave her out of this!"

Ranma's smile became wild as he got up and grabbed Ryouga's collar. "Good! I guess I can fuck the shit out of her before I stick a bullet between her eyes!"

Ryouga pushed Ranma back and started swinging at him. "Shut up! You're fucking crazy!"

Ranma dodged easily from Ryouga's blows and just knocked his hands out of the air. "What're you swinging at there sunshine? You scared you gonna loose your little sex dispenser?"

"Don't talk about her like that! I'll fucking kill you!"

Ranma grabbed both of Ryouga's wrists and got right into his face. "That's what I like to hear!" Ranma then came at Ryouga with a solid forehead to the face and when he fell back Ranma was back in his face. "Just how far will you go to save her life? Would you give up yours?"

Ryouga swatted Ranma out of his face and got up with his fists ready. "You're damn right I would!"

Ranma spun the gun in his hand and pointed it at Ryouga, forcing him to blink. "Then why are you shaking?" Ryouga didn't have an answer for that and just kept staring at the gun until Ranma informed him why. "It's because you're scared little boy… Real men accept their fate, but you…" Ranma looked at Ryouga's fists. "You're gonna try and muscle your way out of this ya little pussy and I've got news for you. It ain't happening. Your ass is mine tonight…"

Ryouga felt intimidated and went to his knees while staring up the barrel of the gun. "You'd leave her out of this?"

Ranma cocked back the gun with a smile and said, "How can you trust me if you're dead?"

And then it was a surprise attack. Ryouga may have been on his knees, but his hands on the cement floor were easily deadly weapons. "I know you'd never forgive me, but… Like hell I'd ever let you hurt her…" With one hand he pushed Ranma's gun out of the way and with the other he pointed straight into the ground. "Breaking Point!"

Ranma was knocked back and pelted by debris like every one else that may have been close by, but he was the only one that got back up with a grin. "So ya wanna play like that, eh?" Ranma got to his feet, dropped his gun, and put up his dukes. "I may be out of practice, but it's like riding a bike." He got into a stance and his body became loose. Ryouga was in the center of his own little crater as he watched Ranma and slowly but surly, he got into his own stance and gave Ranma the same serious look he was giving him. "You wanna get crazy? Let's get fucking crazy!"

-

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(Limp Bizkit - My Way: Oooooo... Things are happening and fast. I got a lot of stuff up in the air right now, I wonder what's going to happen? Fun Fact: You guys get to see this for about 10 days more then the guys on AFF. Fun Fact #2: I came very close to using a Madonna song for the title, but decided that it wouldn't put hair on any one's chest. I'll update soon, and this time I mean it.)


	26. Riot Time

Riot Time

(Powerman 5000 – Riot Time)

Ranma rushed at Ryouga, but it was Ryouga who would swing first. It was just a basic swing for the face, but Ranma proved to be in better shape then either of them thought. To avoid the hit, Ranma hit his heel with the back of his other foot making him spin fast around the punch and giving Ryouga a backhand in the process. Ranma came on him fast after that, giving him combos composed of shear randomness, but it was when Ranma went to do his big move, a knee under the chin, that Ryouga caught it, grabbed Ranma's head and smacked it into his own knee. Ryouga's only advantage was to keep hold of Ranma's hair and lead him around. He pulled Ranma over to the counter and started smashing his face against it repeatedly, while giving the back of his head the occasional punch.

It was around the sixteenth time Ranma hit his face on the counter that he finally got his hands on it and started pushing back against Ryouga, and for a moment they just sort of stayed in a deadlock, until Ranma kicked his heel up behind him and sacked Ryouga in the cahones. Ryouga let go after that and almost went to his knees, but Ranma grabbed him tossed him head first into that jukebox from before and started breaking anything he could find, over Ryouga's back. First there was a chair, then a bottle, and then a screaming Greaser, a cash register, some chick's chiwawa, a pool stick, some dude's wings, and right when Ryouga turned around to collect himself, a long 84 inch florescent light smacked across his forehead. One would think that an empty glass tube wouldn't hurt that much, but it was more the glass stuck in his face along with the mercury powder in the cuts that really burned. In truth it hurt more then the cash register, and was far more annoying then the chiwawa.

Ryouga held his head as he ran away towards the kitchen, or which ever way he thought was the kitchen. He came to a locked door and started pulling on it frantically, but the thing was locked, so he went on to plan two and kicked the door off the hinges. It failed to be the kitchen, but it had a sink, which was what he was aiming for. He turned on the water in the janitor's closet and fought hard to get the burning powder off his bloody face, but he knew he didn't have much time because Ranma was running at him. Ranma came at him with a flying kick, but Ryouga acted quickly by pulling the faucet right off the sink and clothes lined Ranma in midair and it didn't stop there. While Ranma was halfway through his unwilling back flip, Ryouga grabbed his leg and reversed the momentum. Ranma's head snapped back as Ryouga flipped in the opposite direction with Ranma's leg. Ranma's chin cracked against the ground with a very clear snap, and there was a good chance something was now broken, because two of his teeth just chipped. Ranma was busy trying to keep the floor warm when he felt himself being dragged, in this time he figured out that his jaw had been dislocated and got that back in place before anything else, but as he did he felt his neck being grabbed and was pushed up against a wall where Ryouga started giving him fast, heavy shots with his right hand.

Ranma needed to throw up, but his mouth was in enough pain to prevent that, so he grabbed Ryouga's ears, pulled hard and started using his head as a melee weapon. For the most part it stunned Ryouga momentarily, however Ryouga just stopped nailing Ranma in the stomach and paid back the favor. Clearly Ryouga's head was harder then Ranma's because Ranma was starting to smell blood and after a few seconds he could taste it. He shook his head a little and saw Ryouga coming down at him again and reflexes kicked in to tilt his head slightly to the left and let Ryouga plow his head into the wall. It was Ryouga's turn to shake his head and Ranma only glanced for a second at probably the only cement wall in the building, where an indent from Ryouga's head now rested. He stopped wasting time, pulled Ryouga's head down by the hair and drove both of his knees into Ryouga's face. He then grabbed his shirt savagely and spun him to switch positions and now Ryouga's back was to the wall. Ranma started a nice little combo, with a left-right to the face, a left-left to the ribs, a right to the stomach, and repeat. Ranma's hits were right on target every time and his fists slowly became nothing but blurs to the human eye. Ryouga tried desperately to push away any of the hits, but he was just too slow and Ranma just kept picking up the pace. He felt like he was trying to push back the bullets of an endless machine gun hitting him over and over again, and it made him bloody and red.

Ranma started screaming as his pace kept getting faster and faster, and while Ryouga was trying to figure out why he felt like he was sinking back, his question was answered when Ranma stopped quite suddenly, ran back two steps, jumped off the other wall and finally landed that foot to the face he tried before. Upon impact Ryouga blew through the wall and into the kitchen he tried so hard to find before. Ryouga did his best to roll over and crawl away, but a gunshot froze him and made him look back. Ranma was busy dealing with a couple of Charlie's Angels and from the looks of things and the way he smoked one after another, hitting women no longer seemed to be an issue to him. Then again if they're shooting at you then it's all fair game.

One of the last Greasers tried to come at Ranma with some good old fashion street fighting, but one unsuccessful lead to him being on the ground with two fingers up his nose and being dragged towards Ryouga for unknown reasons. Those reasons became clear after Ranma pulled one of those huge boiling vats off the stove and threw it at Ryouga. Ryouga took the thing full on, but still managed to get to his feet and come after Ranma. He punched and kicked, but all he was hitting was Ranma's new human shield, and after taking a few pop shots towards a bloody nose, Ryouga decided that he needed the hell out of there, so he ran.

Hikori was sitting on the hood of his car having a smoke and looking up at the sky. It was all cloudy and not really meant for stargazing, but he enjoyed it the best he could. He closed his eyes and got relaxed not really thinking of anything and just taking in the moment. His hands were behind his head and legs crossed and all he cared about was how nice the fresh air felt. He got to that point where he wanted to go to sleep, but that was prevented when he heard the familiar sound of a lighter grinding and lighting very close to him. It scared the living shit out of him because one: he was alone, and two: he hadn't heard anybody get on the hood beside him. He screamed and rolled off the car and after face planting himself he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the person on the hood. "Jerry?"

Jerry was sitting on the hood cross-legged and leaning forward trying to light a smoke. Jerry just stared at Hikori with wide eyes and frozen in her spot with the unlit smoke between her lip. "What?"

"Fuck! Are you trying to give me a heart attack here?"

Jerry was still confused. "What?"

"Why'd you sneak up on me?"

"I'm didn't sneak up, I just want a fucking smoke. Now put your fucking gun away or I'll shove the fucking thing up your ass diagonally so I can blow your pecker off before I finish burying the trigger. For fuck sakes, you're not the only one that parks their car on the roof."

"I didn't hear you or anything… How'd you get on without me knowing?"

"Soft leather shoes and I weigh a hundred and ten pounds."

Hikori looked at Jerry carefully and eventually said. "You weigh more then a hundred and ten…"

And that's when Jerry pulled out a big fucking shotgun from out of nowhere and pointed right at Hikori. "I weigh a hundred and ten pounds asshole!"

Hikori dropped his gun and put his hands high in the air. "Holy Jesus! You weigh a hundred and ten pounds! You weigh a hundred and ten pounds!"

Ryouga ended up making a door out of the building and crawled up onto the street, but before he could make a break for it he felt someone grab his pant leg and that someone was Ranma. "Where ya going buddy? We've got a few things to discuss!" Ryouga felt his legs give way and fell on the rocky road on his hands and chest. He kicked back and must have hit something because Ranma let go of him and was able to get to his feet again. Ryouga started bolting down the street to whatever sweet salvation laid ahead, "Hey! Get back here ya fucking coward!" and for some reason Ranma's words stopped him dead in his tracks. Ranma finished pulling himself out of the hole in the sidewalk and brushed himself off. "I thought we were gonna fight Ryouga? Just you and me, man to man. I didn't come here to look at your back; I came to see your face!" The empty streets filled with the sound of Ranma's footsteps as he paced the road behind Ryouga. "Does your own hide really mean more to you then her? You sounded so fucking bold just a few minutes ago, what happened?"

People started poking their heads around corners and through building windows to see what all the commotion was about. They all kept to the shadows and watched the scene in silence. Ryouga's shoulders dropped and he turned back around slowly. "You know that's not true…"

Ranma chuckled in the distance. "Yeah, I know. You'd kill for her wouldn't you?" It was sarcasm all over and it hit Ryouga right in the heart. Ranma pointed directly at him and yelled, "You fucking owe this to me! You fucking owe me you selfish prick! I could hunt you down like a goddamn dog and shoot ya in the back any fucking time I want, but this fight is what you owe me! For fuck sakes! Face me like a fucking man and fight me!"

Ryouga shook his head and yelled with his eyes closed. "I can't… I can't give you what you want!"

Ranma put out his arms and screamed with a deep booming voice. "And why the fuck not?"

Ryouga balled up his fist and struck the ground as hard as he could and as he did a large crack in the stone swelled up and made a spider wed etching all around him. "Because you can't beat me!" Ryouga pulled his fist out of the ground and let the small pebbles roll off his arm. "Unlike you, I've been pulling my punches… I may be bleeding but I still hardly feel a thing…" Ryouga looked down and was almost ready to break out into tears. "Every day of my life I've trained, and even after I fucked up, I just trained harder… Even after I thought you were dead, I just trained harder… What the hell have you been doing…? You can barely get the chestnuts fist going… You may as well just shoot me, because I'd just be holding back in a fight."

It was Ranma's turn to shake his head. "You don't get it Ryouga. Blockheads like you never do. This fight goes back further then you murdering Sheela. It goes right back to that beef we'd always had with each other and for once you have the advantage." Ranma got back into his stance and started concentrating. "I could care less if I live or die right now. I'm already guaranteed death tonight anyways, so just do me this favor…" Ranma started concentrating even harder and sweat started to bead at his forehead. "Let me have it my way…" Then a large blue battle aura flared around Ranma's body and by it's flickering, he was having a hard time keeping it up. His eyes were strained and his body flexed. "And give me exactly what I want!"

It was a shock to Ryouga, it had been a while since he'd seen a battle aura, but it said something about Ranma. More then anything, this fight was the most important thing to him right now and whether or not he died was just a small insignificant factor. He was either going to beat him or die trying. Ryouga reluctantly got his fists back up and asked, "What the hell are you trying to prove Ranma…? That you're better then me? That I betrayed you? I know I'm scum! It's been nothing but regret for me! If you wanna kill me then just shoot me! You can't beat me with your fists!"

"Are you sure?" Ranma's head tilted to the side for a moment and quite suddenly he started running at Ryouga at an alarming pace. It was like watching a blue ball of fire rush at him without warning. Ryouga put up his arms to block the hit, but for some reason nothing happened right away, and then he saw why. He was looking down and saw Ranma do a baseball slide between his legs, and disappear.

"What the hell?" Ryouga turned his torso just in time to see Ranma rushing from behind him, and as Ranma took a hold of Ryouga's head his body winched with fear. Ranma lead Ryouga's head forward and down until Ryouga was crouched over, but then he switched directions again and whipped the back of Ryouga's head into the cement. Ryouga laid there groggy for a minute and found that the will to get up again was becoming difficult to find. He got his arm into position to lift himself up, but Ranma was on top of him with that chestnuts strike that apparently Ranma was barely executing. Ryouga tried to close his eyes but for some reason they stayed wide open to only see a million blurs coming at him like hellish pistons. When Ranma finally slowed down again he pushed himself into the air, and landed on Ryouga's chest feet first and used him like a trampoline to back flip off of him. Ryouga was shaking because he couldn't feel his hands for some reason, but he still managed to get one to his face and wipe the blood out of his eyes. Ryouga lifted his head slowly to look at Ranma and finally said, "You were holding back too…"

Ranma reached down and grabbed Ryouga's shirt with one hand and picked him up. "Only because you were." Ryouga hung in front of Ranma limp as he pulled out something from his coat. "You remember what's on the line?" Ranma held out some pictures of Ukyo sleeping in the hospital, for Ryouga to see, and as he looked his eyes became wide. "Remember, if you don't give me all you've got then I'm cutting the bitch up and jerking off on the pieces. I'm a fucking psycho now and I'll kill her just to get back at you. Get it?"

Ryouga then became very irrational and tried to have a swing at Ranma, but Ranma had already let go of Ryouga and was now dropping backwards while Ryouga fell towards him. With one hand on the ground and a leg going straight up, Ranma's foot found a nice little home against Ryouga's ribs. Ryouga then flew up about an extra foot into the air and as he came down again Ranma curled himself into a crouched position standing on his toes and shot up to take one hell of an uppercut under Ryouga's jaw, and once again his body defied gravity's call and went up again, until Ranma got his hand back onto the front of Ryouga's shirt. Ryouga felt himself being dragged at the same deadly speed Ranma had before and just as he started feeling dizzy, Ranma came to a sudden stop and let go of him.

Ryouga was sent sailing across the street and into the side of an abandoned car. The side panel bent and warped around Ryouga's body much like it would have if the car had hit a telephone poll sideways at a hundred. The back and front bumper of the old Volvo were now touching and Ryouga was somewhere behind them at the drivers side seat. Ryouga moved slowly pushing himself off the twisted metal and glared at Ranma. "You wanna fight dirty?"

Ranma just grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "Is there any other way?" The broken beads of glass were making their way down Ryouga's shirt and clattered on the ground as he stood properly in the wreckage. He quickly placed a hand on the corner of the hood, tore it right off the car, leaped into the air, and gave himself enough momentum to spin like a top in the air and flung the thing at Ranma. He took a single step to the side and let the hood frisbee its way past him and spark along the street. Ryouga landed on the trunk and kept his glare at locked on at Ranma who was looking amused. "I was expecting a little more from you…"

"How's this?" Without even breaking a sweat, Ryouga reached beneath where the hood used to be, with one hand, clamped down and pulled the six cylinder engine right out along with all the broken cords and pipes still attached.

Ranma then looked a little astonished. "Well that's kind of frightening." So was the part when Ryouga jumped off the devastated car and swung at Ranma with his new iron fist.

Hikori was driving with Jerry to the meeting point and discovered something annoying about Jerry. He didn't shut up, never, not once. It was driving him insane. Hikori cursed every red light he came to and gave the one-finger-salute to every pedestrian crossing the road. Hikori could have got a word in between Jerry's ramblings, but it would have only provoked more of the noise coming from Jerry's mouth. "You know I started drinking ice tea because I thought it had less sugar in it and after like a month I finally started reading the labels and stuff, then I found out that ice tea has more sugar in it then most pop. I was amazed." Hikori just nodded and took a sip from his pop, which was the basis of the conversation thus far. "Check it out, I've got like thirty five grams per serving, what's yours? Hikori? Yo? What's the serving in yours? Hikori?"

He pulled the bottle off his lips and started at Jerry with huge eyes. "I don't know! I didn't fucking ask it!"

The car went very silent and Jerry was giving Hikori that 'you have just offended me you jerk' look and Jerry just kept her eyes on him. "You're mean…"

"Yes I am!" Hikori's face turned sour and he was now driving in silence with a frown while Jerry just kept giving him that look. "Stop staring at me." And then something weird happened. Much like when you hear a sound for so long, like a washing machine or a fan, that it becomes the norm in your hearing, that's what Jerry's voice became to him. Now that Jerry had stopped talking the car had become too quiet and it was starting to get to him. He touched a button on the radio dial, but of course it was the only car in Nerima that didn't have a working radio. He wanted to turn on the air conditioning just for that ambient sound in the background but the broken consol only had three off buttons, followed with a high and higher power. It was when he came to another red light in the deafly silent car that Hikori regretfully looked at the side of his bottle and said, "twelve grams…"

Jerry just shook her head and kept giving him that look, "Oh no, don't let me shit on your parade here."

Hikori's eye twitched, his face turned red, a big fucking vein started throbbing on the side of his head and his grasp on the bottle became tight to the point that he was spilling pop everywhere, and then he yelled, "TWELVE GRAMS!"

Ranma was in a tight spot. The thing with Ryouga was that, yes he did have his hand inside an engine, and yes he was swinging it at Ranma, but what it failed to do was slow down the frequency of his hits. With this information in mind, anyone can clearly see that Ryouga was strong, perhaps even too strong, and this made the fight very difficult for Ranma. He was fast enough to get out of the way, but Ryouga eventually faked with his right, grabbed Ranma's shoulder with his left and got him with the haymaker from the motor. Ranma's body twisted into the air and he hit the brick wall on the other side of the street back first. Ryouga came in fast and started taking frantic swings with the heavy arm. Ranma's eyes focused hard and rolled from side to side along the wall to get the hell out of the way, but every time he tried to make a break for it, the engine would come sailing at him and just narrowly miss him. Ranma locked eyes with Ryouga and waited for the straight on shot and when it happened he fell to his knees and delivered his own haymaker to the soft dangly things between Ryouga's legs. Ryouga keeled over in pain, but stayed on his feet with enough sense to see the opening he had. He lifted the engine high and came down onto Ranma's back like a relentless jackhammer. He managed to imbed Ranma into the ground a little bit, but the pain got to him and he had to let go of the engine and fall back to cradle his poor nuts.

Ranma's face held a look of pain but he managed to get himself up and moving. He saw Ryouga lying on his back with a tear in his eye. Since Ranma was an opportunist he started giving Ryouga some kicks to the ribs and judging by a gasp of pain exhaled from Ryouga there must have been a broken rib somewhere. "How's it feel bitch?" Ranma got a big grin on his bloody lips as he kept coming in again and again with a ruthless kick to that broken rib. "How's it feel? This all ya got?"

Quite suddenly Ryouga caught Ranma's foot and tripped him and as Ranma came down Ryouga shouted something as both his arms came down with an ear shattering smash against the pavement. "Shattersphere!" It was a new move for sure and a strange one. The force in which Ryouga hit the ground with seemed to push up against Ranma and hold him in midair, then Ranma started to find it hard to breathe. It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the area and replaced with a hard hit of extreme gravity. For only a moment his entire body felt as though it was being pulled and dragged into a vacuum, but pushed away at the same time. His eyes felt like they were going to explode in his head, then his body felt very light, too light. His eyes couldn't focus on the speed in which he was pushed away from Ryouga, but in less then half a second he hit a telephone pole sideways and stopped very abruptly, only to have a brigade of sharp flying debris hit him on every point of his body. After that, the telephone pole finally broke in half and he plummeted to the street face first making a sound that begged his lungs to take in some air.

"I wonder what's keeping him?" Hikori was pacing in front of the place where every one was meeting and the only thing to comfort him in his pacing was Jerry sitting on the hood with crossed legs and big cigar in her mouth.

"Knock it the fuck off. He's going to get his sweet ass here when he gets it here. Besides, I thought you of all people would have had some sensitive issues with him right now. That Ryouga guy did kill Sheela." Jerry attempted at blowing a smoke ring but failed miserably and threw the expired cigar away.

Hikori stopped and gave Jerry a piercing glare. "She was my partner far before Ranma came along. This IS me being sensitive."

Jerry chuckled a little. "Jealous?"

Hikori put one hand on the hood and leaned to get into Jerry's face. "Of Ranma? No. I didn't see Sheela the way Ranma did. We worked well together, and we were always fair. Do I regret ever meeting Ranma? No, he made her happy, and that was all she wanted. Would she still be alive if she didn't meet him? Probably, but I know she wouldn't have had it any other way."

Jerry leaned in closer to Hikori and asked. "Are you sure you didn't have feelings for her yourself?"

"I had a wife and kid Jerry. They both left me for someone better and Sheela would have been the same age as my daughter. Call it pretending to be a father so I could justify my existence."

"So you made her a thief?"

"I didn't say I was a good father. I'm just an old guy that can only offer so much."

"How old are you?" Jerry asked.

"I'm forty-four."

Jerry grabbed Hikori's tie and said, "You don't look it." And promptly pressed her lips against his with closed eyes.

When she pulled away Hikori's expression remained unchanged but he wiped his mouth and said only one word, "ew…"

Jerry laughed, "You enjoyed it." and let go of his tie.

"If I didn't know the awful truth about you Jerry, I probably could have. I the name of everything good and holy in this world, don't ever do that again."

His ears were ringing and his head felt like it had just been pushed through a small hole in a wall made of razor blades. He was getting to his feet and he didn't know why, but after shaking his head a few times he got his eyes opened and saw a guy helping him up. He was dressed kind of weird and seemed to be yelling something at Ranma, but he couldn't make it out at first. The ringing in his ears was starting to go away, but as he looked around he saw that someone was also helping Ryouga up and all around him were people hooting and hollering. Some of them looked normal enough, but other looked on the verge of homeless, with dirty faces and faded clothing. He started picking sounds out of the air and it seemed like everyone was yelling and screaming something, but every body's words got lost in all the others and the only words he could make out were the ones of the man helping him up. "Get the fuck up! I've got three hundred bucks riding on you ya piece of shit! Get up!"

Without knowing why, Ranma did his best to stand on his own but still wobbled on his feet and saw Ryouga in the same position. From the looks of it, being in the center of his own attack didn't help Ryouga any and he was looking worse for wear. Eventually the streets became a little quieter with all the spectators around and the feeling of anticipation was building. The two stood idly across from each other with weary eyes, but for some reason something snapped in both of them and their expression became fierce, and then they gave it everything they had to charge at each other. The crowd of gathered spectators all started screaming, chain link fences were pushed back and forth for a better look, and the occasional beer bottle was tossed and broken on the street as every one went nuts with excitement.

Ranma almost tripped on a rock on his charge over to Ryouga, but maintained himself well enough to keep going. He raised one fist to plow Ryouga with, but Ryouga got in the first hit with an across the jaw maneuver. Ranma leaned to one side with the blow, but sling shot himself back with a backhand from his left and a follow up with his right. The two just stopped trying to block each other's blows and kept punching every chance they had to see who'd go down first. They just stood in one spot beating the living hell out of each other, neither falling nor missing a single shot. It was as if pain no longer meant a thing and bloody knuckles and broken bones were the only goals. Their arms eventually locked and Ryouga was winning the shoving contest, but what he didn't expect was for Ranma to make a disgusting snort with his nose, and hawk a vile chunk of yellow shit all over Ryouga's face. It stunned him enough to make his arms give up the tension they had and go limp for a second. Ranma had his hands full so he leaned in and planted some sharp teeth into Ryouga's shoulder and took out a small hunk of meat.

Ryouga let out a quick shriek and the crowd went wild. He ignored the pain as soon as he could, grabbed the hair on the back of Ranma's head and clocked him with a crushing blow, and just when he thought Ranma was going to fall back, Ranma reached out and pulled the same move and came in for a bonus head butt. Ryouga went to the ground and Ranma was on top of him with two fist-sized rocks in each hand and started wailing away. A woman in the crowd could be heard screaming, but weather it was with pleasure, or sympathy would never be known.

Once again as Ranma was on top of him, Ryouga raised both hands into the air and brought them down with that same earth shattering force he had before. Ranma saw the signs and jumped away as fast as he could, but after he heard the words, "Shattersphere!" he was stopped and pulled in towards Ryouga as if he instantly became the new center of gravity. Ranma knew what to expect and this time held his breath. It didn't help all that much and he was still sent flying away at sonic speed, along with all those pieces of broken earth coming at him at the same speed. The only up side this time was that his ears weren't ringing afterwards.

Once again some guy betting money on him helped Ranma up, but this time another guy punched him off Ranma, probably because he was betting on Ryouga, and then another fight broke out in the crowd. Ranma got to his own feet this time and looked across the road at Ryouga. His strength was starting to run on empty and he was breathing hard. Ryouga was on his knees and absolutely covered in a mixture of his own and Ranma's blood. The two still gave each other dirty looks, but neither knew how long they could keep going.

For no reason Ranma started laughing which then turned to coughing and hacking causing him to fall to his hands and knees. He spat something out and got back up while still chuckling. "What do ya say Ryouga? One last shot with everything we have left."

Ryouga was still stuck in his head thinking about Ukyo and what this crazy Ranma would do to her if he died. He got up slowly and put his fists up. "Why would you hurt Ukyo…? Why attack her to get to me? Did I really drive you insane…?"

Ranma just shook his head trying to keep that smile on his face. "I'm perfectly sane Ryouga, I just don't care about any one any more. I'm going to die tonight anyways, so why not have as many of my old friends come with me as I go?" He laughed again and started concentrating like he did before. "I'm planning ahead, ya know? Cutting her up would ease my hate for you so much right now, just to know that you couldn't protect her. It would be some sick irony."

"Shut the fuck up!" Ryouga got into position and started to build his chi like a motherfucker.

Ranma remained unfazed by Ryouga's actions and simply said, "It's time to die. Are you ready?"

Ryouga started focusing everything on Ukyo. The way she laid still and wouldn't wake up to the sound of his voice. He pictured all those tubes coming out of her and all the chemicals they pumped into her. The image of Ranma giggling and dissecting her with a scalpel came to his head and tears went to his eyes. "I'll never let you hurt her you sonovabitch… I'll never let you near her!" A bright red flaring battle aura engulfed his body. Every one in the crowd felt as though they had been pushed back by it and the visuals made it feel as though energy rushed through their scalps. It made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end and people started moving away.

Ranma just laughed and did the same with his blue aura. His laughing turned into shear hysteria as he felt that old feeling rush through his body. "You've never beaten me! Never! What's so different about now Ryouga?"

"Everything! I'll fucking kill ya!" The tears in his eyes started rolling down his face and his body started to shake. "You want your last big shot? Well here it is!" Ryouga pushed his hands forwards and unleashed holy hell straight at Ranma. "Shishi Hokoudan!" The red ball of Ranma's personal extermination rocketed across the street, tearing up what was left of the road as it went.

Ranma just kept grinning as the explosion of power rushed at him and he waited. He watched it coming at him as closely as he could and kept his chi up at full power with his aura flaring. Through Ryouga's scream came a city block wide scream from every one in the neighborhood and the only one smiling was Ranma. He waited till the last second, when the devastation of energy was only inches away from him that he completely dropped his aura and jumped in a way that a figure skater would. He spun in the air twirling like a fairy as the blast burst past him, but when he landed he looked more like an Olympic runner and then all of his chi came back to him.

Shooting a massive ki blast is sort of like taking a leak, once you start you can't really stop until you're done and Ryouga was far from done. Ranma focus all his energy to his legs and rushed down the streaming line of energy and towards Ryouga. The blast went right through the building behind Ranma and it started collapsing, but Ranma ignored it and ran at Ryouga sparing no fractions of a second he may have had to get to him. Ryouga watched in shock horror as Ranma pulled a gun out from his jacket and his eyes went wide with fear when he saw him load it with a clip from his pocket. Ryouga lost his breathe as he watched Ranma come at him and his screams of war quickly became a blood curdling of fear. Ranma had cheated the final shot and in under a second, Ryouga watched the barrel of the gun come to his head until he could only see a blurry shaft and feel something cold line up between his eyes.

No final words from Ranma and no chance for words from Ryouga, the only thing was a flash of memories before his eyes and Ukyo on his mind, then the gun pressed firmly against his head went off with a screaming bang. His head whipped back, his eyes sealed shut and he fell to the ground heading towards that pretty white light every one always talked about.

-

-

(Powerman 5000 - Riot Time: Fun fact, you ain't seen nothing yet.)


	27. The Best Of You

The Best Of You

(Foo Fighters – The Best Of You)

The streets became nothing more then shear silence as every open mouthed, wide-eyed spectator stood frozen. All bets had been forgotten and the demolition displayed before them became the new center of attention. In a fight between two men a city block had been destroyed and a building had been leveled using only their fists and strange waves of energy. In two and a half years everyone in Nerima had almost forgotten what it looked like, but the way they had fought was different then before. It was murderous and sickening to watch, but like a horrible train wreck, they watched anyways and now one was standing over the other staring at him without any expression on his face.

The silence finally broke but it was only the sound of gravel beneath Ranma's feet as he reached down and grabbed onto Ryouga's shirt. Ryouga's body was limp with blood leaking out everywhere, and all Ranma did was start dragging the body with him to where his car was. Hundreds of heads turned to watch Ranma leave, dragging Ryouga behind him and only a few were brave enough to stay in the shadows and follow behind.

Ranma took the flaccid body in one hand and shoved it against the wall staring at the blood-smeared face. Ranma finally said something through clenched teeth after a good look, "Did you feel it?" Ryouga's neck was limp and his head was tilted to the side, pouring a sticky stream of blood and drool from his mouth. Ranma's answer was unheard, so he screamed at the top of his lungs and let a piercing shot from his gun go off, "HEY!"

Then the people in the ally watching jerked back as Ryouga's entire body vibrated and jolted around. Ryouga was alive and twitching around with a jagged breath. His eyes were half rolled back in his head and his hands shook frantically as they reached up to touch his forehead where Ranma had shot, but found nothing more then a burned spot. His breathing became throaty as he tried to ask something, but couldn't come up with the air to do so.

Ranma held his gun up in front of Ryouga and said, "They're called blanks. Here, have the rest." He then pressed the gun to Ryouga's chest and emptied his clip with quick squeezes of the trigger. Ryouga screamed as he heard the repeated banging coming from Ranma's gun and when it was over he started crying. Ranma threw him to the ground to let him throw up, hyperventilate and what ever it was that he needed to do.

He was on his back with his hands in front of him shaking crazy and he couldn't rationalize what was going on. "W-white light… I-I saw a-"

"Shut up!" Ranma gave Ryouga a kick to the ribs and rolled him over. Ryouga was on his stomach with his face to the ground crying with everything he had. "Well you seem happy to be alive." Ranma just sneered at Ryouga watching the pathetic display of self-pity. He reached down and grabbed Ryouga's hair to turn him over, "So tell me. Did you feel it? Did you feel that feeling of being utterly helpless?"

The tears just kept rolling off his face and he begged Ranma, "Please don't hurt her… For god's sake please don't hurt her…"

Ranma just balled up his fist and struck Ryouga across the jaw. "Fucking answer me! Did you fucking feel it?"

Ryouga nodded his head trying desperately to look away. "Just don't hurt her… Please god…"

"God ain't here Ryouga! It's just you and me! And in this small shitty side street, I am god! I am heaven and I am Hell! I am the Alpha and Omega of your existence! I decided your fucking fate and I fucking decide when you live and when you die! Do you know who I am yet?" Ryouga put his arms over his face so he couldn't see him, but Ranma just reached down, pulled them apart and started shaking the shit out of him while screaming in voice that almost broke. "Do you fucking well know who I am?"

"I'll do anything you want." Ryouga couldn't stop and his breathing was heavy. "I'll drink razor blades if you ask me, just don't hurt her…"

Ranma pulled Ryouga close to him and kept his glare heavy on him. "You think I wouldn't do the same if it meant bringing her back? But it ain't gonna help now is it?" Ryouga's sniveling started to go away and he attempted eye contact with Ranma. "That feeling you had when I put my gun against your head and pulled the trigger, is the same one I've had everyday since then…" He pulled out another clip from his pocket and reloaded his gun. "Alone… Scared out of my mind… Asking who ever was listening, why me? Why me?" He put the gun against his own head and said, "I even felt a little suicidal at times, and time ain't healing me." He took the gun away from his head and pierced Ryouga's soul with his glare and saw all of his nightmares. "I have every excuse in the world to kill you right now… Revenge, self-satisfaction, closure, you name it, but I've only got one reason not too." He pressed the gun against Ryouga's head and asked, "What's worth more to me Ryouga? My personal vendetta, or my best friend's happiness?" He pulled the hammer back with a click and said, "She's the only one unchanged by everything that's happened… I don't want her to look back on me with hate thinking only of the time I blew your head off…" He sniffed with a tear in his eye and looked down at Ryouga still using the same low raspy tone as before. "What the fuck's my choice?" Slowly he let the hammer down and clicked the safety on. "Against what every last one of my feelings is telling me right now Ryouga, I'm going to let you live and for the rest of the time I have left it's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth."

Ranma got off Ryouga and popped the trunk to his car and pulled out the device Zero made for him. "I've already done you a favor. I bailed Ukyo out of the hospital."

Ryouga's eyes went wide with both disbelief and relief. "Sh-she's safe?"

"I'd never hurt her you fucking idiot… She doesn't know it but I put a tracker on her this morning. Follow the dot on this thing and you'll find her…" Ranma tossed the thing onto Ryouga's lap and put his foot on Ryouga's head, pressing it slowly against the ground. "This in the one and only chance I'll ever give you to run away and disappear forever. If I ever see you again, you better pray to every god that she's within five feet of you and fucking facing me because I'll fucking shoot you dead." He pulled his shoe away and gave Ryouga a kick to the side of the head. He walked away and got into his car leaving the door open and without looking at him he said, "Now get the fuck up and get out of town as fast as you can. I'm taking back Nerima tonight and I don't want her in the middle of a crossfire." Ryouga got up but just kept sitting there dumb not knowing what to do, and that's when Ranma turned the safety off and fired a shot right beside Ryouga's head. "GO!" Ryouga scampered to his feet and ran away as fast as he could, and disappeared out of Ranma's sight.

Ranma rubbed his forehead and wanted to beat his face against the dashboard for letting him go, but he needed to keep his head just a little longer. He almost got around to closing his door but someone put their hand in the way and kept it open. Ranma wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone but he also wasn't in the mood to hurt someone, so he just turned and asked. "What the hell do you rummies want?"

It was a poor guy from the big crowd with a couple of his buddies and he seemed to be the only one with a voice. "I overheard you over there, sorry for eavesdropping. You said you were going to take back Nerima. What does that mean?"

Ranma tried to close the door again and said, "It means you should lay low for the rest of the night. Now get the fuck out of my face, I'm in a hurry." The guy stopped the door again and Ranma's rage was starting to peak, but he just let out a breath and calmly asked. "Now what do you want?"

The guys all looked at each other and after a few moments the leader asked. "Does that mean you're going after Jasper Garino?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow and pulled back to hammer on his gun. "What's it to you? If you like the current placement of your teeth then I suggest that you guys make like a tree."

They poor guy put up his hands and shook his head. "Hey, hey. I don't know who licked the red off your lollipop, but we're on your side, man. Jasper's the reason we're all in the shit hole. I'm sure that if you talked to some of the guys around here you'd find some help."

Ranma was looking bored and said, "I don't think a couple tramps are going to help me any. Now let go of my door, I'm quickly loosing my patience with you."

Finally one of the others spoke up and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and asked, "Who're you callin' tramps?" But before he could take any steps Ranma had already gotten out, put a gun to his head, and held a sturdy grip on the double barrel.

The leader got between them with his hands out trying to break them up. "Whoa! Stop this! Eddy put that thing away! We ain't here to fight him."

Eddy just kept glaring at Ranma trying to get his gun up and ignored the gun to his head. "I know that Mr. Tankashi! But I'm not going to let this prick call us tramps!"

Ranma nodded. "You're right, that was wrong of me. You're just some hotheaded punk with a death wish. Think you got what it takes?"

Mr. Tankashi started shoving roughly at both of them grabbed Eddy's gun. "I told you to stop it Eddy!" His voice rang out with a defining tone that told Eddy he wasn't going to ask again. Eddy scowled and slowly loosened the grip on the gun, until it was just Mr. Tankashi holding it. He turned to Ranma and got between Eddy and the gun. "You're that Ranma Soatome guy aren't ya?" Ranma didn't say much but he didn't deny it. "Look Mr. Soatome, every one around here has heard about you and word on the street says that you're after Jasper. We didn't know how to contact you, but here you are now. I call it Karma and we want in."

Ranma looked at them and almost laughed. "You guys don't seem to have much to offer."

Mr. Tankashi pointed to all the people on the street that hadn't left. "That over there is an army Mr. Soatome. I can get most of them to fight as long as they know they aren't alone. We've got guns, ammo, and street smart, you name it. I think it would be in your best interests."

Ranma chewed on that for a moment and lowered his gun. "It takes more then street smarts to take down a guy like Jasper."

Mr. Tankashi took a step back to get some distance between them. It was a personal bubble thing. "I used to be a weapons dealer for that asshole. He found a better seller and took everything I had. I know how the game works Mr. Soatome, and I'm in it to win. I know a guy like you isn't doing this alone, I know you've got ties somewhere, so why not expand on that."

Ranma looked at his watch and thought for a moment. He was on a tight schedule as it was and a few more guys on his side wouldn't hurt. "If you're serious about helping, then defend east-side road and all of the west end town. What's your gang name?"

"Uhhh… We don't have one…"

"Figures…" Ranma looked at all their stained clothes and finally said, "How about The Brown Streaks." Mr. Tankashi didn't really think about it and just agreed. "Good, I'll tell my guys to check for brown streaks. They'll approach you and the password is Bananarama."

Mr. Tankashi then failed to be impressed and his face dropped. "Are you fist fucking me?"

"Not in the least. You're going to look for a guy named Jerico on east side road, he's got tattoos all over his face, so you won't miss him."

"Anything else?" Mr. Tankashi was starting to get the impression that Ranma was openly mocking them with a straight face.

"Yeah." Ranma got in and started up his car. "You've got less then an hour to get there and you have to do it as inconspicuously as possible, or you're gonna blow our cover over there."

"This isn't a wild goose chase is it?"

Ranma just smiled something evil. "As I said if you're serious then do as I say. If not, then go do what all the other poor people do and make some hats out of old popcorn bags or something. It's entirely up to you." He slammed his door shut and drove off to the meeting point, while the three guys stood silent and watched him leave.

Mr. Tankashi was feeling a little shit on at the moment and his confidence was shot. Eddy took his gun back and shoved it back down his loose fitting pants. "Where does that fucker get off talking to us like that? He's got a serious attitude problem Mr. Tankashi. I say fuck'em."

Mr. Tankashi shook his head. "I didn't realize that things would have been moving this fast… I'm not sure if I could rally enough guys to help…"

Good old, short weasely, Eddy was walking away. "I ain't helping that stuck up jerk Mr. Tankashi, and you shouldn't either. That fucker will be done in long before he sees Jasper."

"You don't know who that was do you Eddy?" Mr. Tankashi said, with something of a sigh in his voice.

"Nah, should I?"

Mr. Tankashi turned to their very large and very silent friend. "Please tell me you knew who that was." The man just nodded with a calm cool about him. "See, even Big Al knew who that was. That was Ranma Soatome. Nerima's savior from a few years back."

Eddy shrugged. "He's a prick to me. Mr. Hero ain't gonna help us, you heard that bullshit he fed us. He ain't saving nothing no more."

Mr. Tankashi rubbed his forehead a little in frustration and started to pace. It was true that it sounded mostly like BS, but it came out too naturally to sound like a lie. Finally he turned to his large friend and asked. "What do you think Al?"

Big Al crossed his arms and let out his low booming voice for the first time in a while. "I've never been too good at makin' paper hats."

Mr. Tankashi's eyes seemed to light up and he became energetic. "Same here Al. Same here." He turned to his smaller, yet volatile friend, "Come on Eddy. This kind of opportunity doesn't just come around all the time. This could get us, and the rest of the gang out of the hole for good." He put out his hand and said, "So are ya in or are ya in?"

Eddy shrugged and sighed and shook Mr. Tankashi's hand, "I guess I'm in, but I ain't takin' any orders from that prick. What do you suggest we do?"

Mr. Tankashi looked at the old dirty watch on his wrist and thought. "If we're on a deadline then I suppose we're going to have to take the sewers. We've only got a few minutes to round up the boys, you guys take care of that, and I'm going to go get my stash."

Eddy started to look a little upset. "You gonna just give your guns away? You made me pay for mine!"

Mr. Tankashi started his light jog to his hidden place and simply said, "There's business and then there's freedom Eddy. One's worth more then the other."

"Bastard! I couldn't pay rent after buying this piece of shit!"

The Saber pulled up between a couple of buildings where Hikori and Jerry were waiting and when the door opened up they saw a very badly beaten and bloody Ranma. Hikori was sitting on a garbage can talking into a cell phone and after seeing Ranma he said, "I'll call you back in a second." And flipped the phone shut. He gave Ranma the look up and down and came up with, "Well, you look like five miles of bad road work. I take it ya killed him."

"Not exactly." Only about five minutes before was when Ranma had started to feel the pain from the fight. Adrenaline can do many amazing things for the body, but when it's gone it becomes something like an addiction making you want more.

Hikori wasn't looking too happy with that and had to ask. "How does that work? You couldn't kill him."

Ranma was looking a little tired and probably needed to sit down. "I had some moral issues."

"So you let him go?" Hikori seemed like he wanted to yell at him, but for some reason he held back.

"Hey, there were more factors then just myself to take into consideration. It took everything I had to not kill him, and if you don't like my decision then just say it. For all I care he's fair game now, I just gave him a chance to run is all. Nothing more."

Hikori shook his head in disappointment. "She'd hate you forever for letting him go."

Ranma limped over to Hikori's car and put a hand on it for some support. "I'll be honest. I could practically hear her screaming in my ear to shoot him dead… but Ukyo… I couldn't put her through that shit. I've been in the center of too many vicious circles to think this wouldn't destroy her. I know revenge and I know it only keeps getting bigger and bigger with each victim."

Hikori wanted to spit, but instead he lit a smoke and took a quick drag from it. "You're too selfish Ranma… Always doing things your way…"

"I know…"

"But now he's fair game. You said it not me. If I see that guy ever again I'm gonna blow his fucking head off, ya hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear ya…" Ranma felt a pull on his sleeve and it was Jerry dragging him away. She opened the back door to the four-door sedan and told him to sit. "What?"

Jerry had a medical box in one hand and a cigar between her fingers in the other. "You're gonna die from blood loss if you don't get patched up. You're lucky I know how to sew." Ranma just groaned and looked away. "Quit bitchin' and take off your pants."

"Pants?"

"I said 'shirt' you idiot."

"Oh." Ranma took it off and to his surprise, most of his cuts were on his face and only a few were about his torso and arms. It was mainly large bruises and a lot of tender areas, but some were still stitch worthy wounds.

Jerry ruffled around in the medical box for a few seconds and pulled out a small syringe. "You want a small shot of morphine before I start?"

Ranma let out a breath of relief and said, "Jerry, you're my fucking savior."

Jerry got him patched up within fifteen minutes and he was bordering mummified when Jerry had finished having his way with him. It was an embarrassing process for him because he had a twitchy face on him and Jerry remedied this problem by putting a knee on his chest and another on the side of his head. Essentially he had a crotch full of Jerry in his face half the time and he couldn't help but think it was on purpose. It was a good thing he was a little funny on morphine at the moment, or else all the butterfly closures along with the stitches would have hurt and he wouldn't have been able to relax like he did. He was relaxed to the point where he was getting ready to fall asleep in the back seat of Hikori's piece of shit car, and at one point he must have because when he opened his eyes they were moving and the street lights were going by at just over the speed limit.

It was a shame that Hikori didn't know that Ranma had in fact woken up because just as he was about to sit upright in his seat, Hikori threw an open water bottle blindly behind him to wake Ranma from his sleep. He was expecting some sort of retaliation for his actions against Ranma, however what was not expecting was the speed in which Ranma would react. In seconds too small for any digital stopwatch to clock, a now female Ranma had Hikori, the driver, in the Mongolian Neck Lock and was now choking the life out of him. This was hardly new to Hikori, but the surprise caught him anyways and the car started to swerve from side to side until he hit the sidewalk and took out a mailbox. It left a large crack in the windshield in front of where Jerry was seated, and as it bounced and skid across the hood, flinging loose mail high into the air, it left a wake of letters behind like falling leaves. The car screeched and peeled along, fishtailing as Hikori hit the gas hard while in the middle of an attempt to push himself up so he could breathe. The car eventually straightened out and it wasn't so much due to Hikori's immense driving skills as it was Jerry pulling the emergency brake and grabbing the steering wheel, which Hikori decided to abandon while fighting off Ranma. Too say the least, Jerry wasn't happy and was now driving with two passengers she scared into silence. "If either of you two ever pull that shit again, I'll rip your tongues out and lick my ass with them!"

It took a few minutes to rake up the courage to speak again, but Hikori found it and it came out as a question. "Hey, I got a call from Jerico before you came and I forgot to ask."

"What?"

"Well he said that a bunch of guys covered in shit approached him, loaded with guns and said 'Bananarama.' You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Ranma scratched her head and spoke innocently. "I may."

"Ok, well they said that you sent them, but we were suspicious of the Bananarama. We've had snipers on them for a while now. I guess we can call them off… Can I just ask though…? Why Bananarama?"

"The radio was playing that Iko Iko song and it was the only thing I could think of."

"You scared the shit out of Jerico. How would you feel if a giant group of dirty men, armed to the tooth, approached you demanding Bananarama? Our guys had to leave their positions just to disarm the bunch. There were like fifty guys, it wasn't easy."

Ranma shrugged almost passively and didn't seem to care much. "I told them that if they were serious about helping they'd do as I say, I didn't actually expect them to do it. Especially if the password was Bananarama."

"First and foremost this is a very hush hush job we're pulling here. It would be nice if we didn't have a bunch of half drunken louts with guns blowing our cover. Secondly there is no password to get in, and thirdly, Bananarama. Why couldn't you think of something cooler?"

"I though Bananrama was good code name. Who'd think of it?"

"You and only you would think of Bananarama."

The vein on Jerry's head was starting to throb on the verge of popping and she somehow managed to glare at them both at the same time. "Can you guys stop saying Bananarama?"

"You didn't kill the guys did you?"

Hikori looked at Ranma like she was a savage that ate her own young. "That would be classified as a mass murder Ranma, no I did not have them killed."

Ranma went quiet for a second and finally asked, "So what do we do?"

Hikori just blinked as he had just seen a man hack off another mans head with banana. "What's this 'we' thing? This is YOUR little mess."

"Do we got any more morphine Jerry?"

"Fuckoff!" Jerry's knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel hard and her speech was quickened to the point where all her words came out as on.

Ranma looked at Hikori and said the obvious. "I think Jerry's mad at us."

It was that statement that sent Jerry into her rage. In truth she wanted nothing more then to drive in silence without hearing the stupidity of their voices, but things just didn't work that way and she used the only solution she could think of. She laid on the brakes. As it turned out this was yet another thing that failed to help the situation for Ranma was not wearing her seatbelt. The sudden stop caught Ranma off guard and before she could find a way to secure her seat, she was sent flying head first between the seats and landing somewhere between the steering wheel, the shifter, and across the laps of Jerry and Hikori. It was through weary eyes that Ranma thought that landing head first in Hikori's lap would have moral issues, but still be a far better choice then the one she had landed in. She looked up at Jerry with some knowing of what was about to happen to her and she uncontrollably shook a little. Much like that thing from Alien, Jerry's hand grasped onto Ranma's entire face and did not let go.

Ranma was now sporting a few new bruises then she originally had and she walked between Jerry and Hikori, whom were all now out of the sideways car in the middle of the road. The walked was dead silent until they got to the next meeting place.

They were just under a block away when Jerry's cell went off and she looked miffed that the silence had been broken so close to their destination. "What? … Yeah, he's here, why?" After a moment Jerry handed Ranma the phone with a look of concern in her eyes.

"Yo."

"It's Bugsy. You didn't kill that Ryouga guy."

Ranma rubbed her head and didn't feel like being chewed out at this particular point. "No, I gave him a chance to walk."

"I think you fucked up then."

"What's this about Bugsy?"

"He was followed here."

Ranma just stopped from walking and stood very still. "By Who?"

"I'm taking a stab in the dark here, but I'm thinking they're Jasper's guys. There's a bunch of them in the underground parking and they're on radios. I've also got some cameras on them out front. They're all packing heat."

"Did he know we were planning something?"

"Looks like it. And I think Ryouga verified it for them."

Ranma started heading towards a car parked on the side of the street and said, "Sit tight, I'll be there in a second." Ranma hung up the phone and tossed it back to Jerry. "We didn't make the first move as planned, he did."

Jerry was looking angry again and she grabbed Ranma's arm to stop her. "What the fuck's going on?"

"Jasper is going to attack the Jade garden. He's got all his boys in the basement and out front. That guy saw through all this shit… We need a new plan."

Jerry started going towards the car with Ranma and said, "No you ain't going alone." She looked back at Hikori and said, "Get the guns and think of a way to deal with this shit."

Hikori wasn't looking too happy and in the back of his head he knew that this was somehow Ranma's fault. He lit a smoke to calm himself and started calling up Jerico on his cell while formulating a plan of sorts. He started thinking that all those rummies may come in handy after all. With all the extra guys he now had, he could do something special. He watched idly as the car fired up, pulled a 180 and sped off. "Jerico, we've got a problem and I think we can fix it. Give the bananarama's their guns back."

-

-

(Foo Fighters - The Best Of You: Well once agin I'm sorry this took so long, but I was once again wating for AFF to come back up so I could post it at the same time, but now I'm just tired of waiting. Now for some good and bad. Good: Yes this story will be finished soon. Bad: I'mnow incollege and the updates are going to be slow in coming.I'm trying for two a month, but one chapter a month for sure. Sorry but the work load it a bit much and I'm driving an hour and a half each way to go to school. With this said, the first thing on my mind is not this fic, but eating a bowl of Special K. Also my part time job of oiling up women before a porno shoot is very demanding. I'm sorry my Special K and oiling of womenare getting in the way of my writting.)


	28. Kansas City Shuffle

Kansas City Shuffle

(J. Ralf – Kansas City Shuffle)

"I don't get it. Why wouldn't they benefit from a few extra tax dollars?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm talking about." A man named Earl informed his jaded partner. "I'm saying that no one asked 'me' where 'my' money should go. I'd like it to go to something a bit nobler then building an overpass that's going to take an estimated two years, but probably five to build. We don't really need it and it's just an excuse to blow money."

The man without much care in the topic walking beside Earl scratched his head and asked, "So why don't you go ask someone who can voice your opinion?"

"Bob… If the government wanted my opinion on the matter, then they'd take a poll and tally the results. No one is going to come up to me and ask me where my taxes should go, unless they were trying to start a conversation. The only things you can really have a say in are small things in your community."

"What about tree huggers?" Bob inquired.

"No, screw the tree huggers. Every one knows that they're just a bunch of unemployed hippies trying to feel important. If they don't go out and tie themselves to trees then they're just going to sit at home smoking pot and watching Star Trek all day. Most of them are vegetarians too. Have you ever seen a tofu-meatloaf?"

"No."

"It's unnatural and utterly disgusting."

Bob scratched his head again. "How is it 'unnatural'?"

Earl stopped for a second and thought about that and eventually came up with, "Because it's a meatloaf. The key word is meat. What they eat would be classed as a veggie loaf." And went on as if never missing a beat.

"Is tofu a vegetable?"

Earl finally had to submit and lose his pace as he faltered at the question. He thought about it hard and when his eyes narrowed he said, "Well, I'm not really sure… I think it's a bean of some kind… I actually have no clue, but what I do know is that there is a rather large vehicle backing up towards doors over there at a dangerous pace."

"Oh, really?" Bob looked over at the front doors of the casino and through the glass he could see what Earl had described. "I wonder if he'll stop?" Bob's curiosity was answered when the glass blew inwards and the front doors were replaced with the back of a large hauling truck and when the tall steel shutter opened a flood of men with guns gushed out, all dressed slightly like members of a SWAT force, but not quite, and telling every one to get down. Both Bob and Earl thought it would be best to move the discussion to the floor where they would both cower in fear. "Oh, fuck me… What do you suppose is happening?"

Earl with his face bravely pushed into the thin-carpeted floor, shrugged. "I think this is what they call a raid. Probably some dangerous people about."

If Bob's face weren't pushed into the floor as well then Earl would have seen the puzzled look on his face. "How dangerous?"

There were screams there and about them along with men with guns walking over them and Earl thought back, and even though his body was shaking his words were almost calm. "Oh, I'd assume it has something to do with drugs. That's what most of the problems in this town are related to. There's probably some guy here sitting on a big stash of something, but I'm surprised to see this many guns however I hear most of those dealers are somewhat cracked out if you catch my drift."

"I don't think I do catch your drift. Care to display for me an example?"

A screaming woman being cased by a suited man with a gun tripped over Earl and fell on Bob, but as if it didn't even happen Earl just went on. "Well, I heard back a few months ago there was a rather large drug bust. Lots of cops and lots of guns, but the dealer was getting just a little too acquainted with his own merchandise and by the end of it he willingly gave a cops gun a blow job and took the load full force."

"That sounds somewhat personal…" Bob's voice trailed off and he stayed as silent as he could.

"I'll say. The cop wasn't even alive when it happened." Earl dared to look up for a moment and saw the last man jump off the back off the van and unlike the rest he wasn't wearing a patchy SWAT style uniform but dressed rather flamboyantly. "Hmm… Quite the juxtaposition if I do say so myself. What do you think Bob?"

Bob looked up only for a moment and saw the figure. "You're using large words again Earl. Care to supply me another example?"

Earl thought hard for a moment and came up with the best definition he could. "Well, think of two things going together that just shouldn't."

Bob thought. "Like oil and water?"

Earl shook his head. "Not really. The two things mix even though they shouldn't. How about this? Think about a serial killer, now think about what his home may look like."

"I don't have much experience in the matter of trudging forth into the home of a serial killer, but I would suspect that it would be quite untidy."

"Ok, now lets say this said killer enjoys chopping up his victims, boiling their skin off and keeping the all the little bits and pieces in the walls, but his house looks absolutely spotless, not a speck of dirt anywhere."

Bob thought again. "Wouldn't there be something of a stench?"

Earl nodded. "Exactly! The home would be spotless, but the air would hold a smell that said something completely opposite to what you were seeing."

Bob looked back up at the figure and then back at Earl. "You can smell him all the way from over here?"

Earl's face dropped and he just stared at Bob with a tired look. "I hope you get shot Bobby I really do…"

A small Honda pulled up towards the lowered gate blocking the way to the underground parking. There was a man in a uniform flagging the car to stop and it did so just short of the gate. The man began to explain that the lot was currently full, but since his clothes didn't seem to fit him too well and the fact that Jerry had never seen him before, she pulled out her gun and blew his head off and it must have been quite a shot because when she went into the control room there were two men dead and one of them had a hole in his head as well and his clothes had been blown right off with the deadly aim of Jerry's gun. He may have been dead before but that was the story Jerry was sticking to and since she was in charge of security and these two were clearly jerking around, she decided there wasn't going to be any goofing around while she was on shift and the punishments were strict.

Jerry raised the gate and left the car behind so no one else would come in unless they felt like walking. Ranma had gotten out a block earlier and was heading for the other side of the building. He noticed that there was a large hauling truck parked in the front doors and proceeded with caution. When he got close he ducked down and started crawling under the truck and inside for a better look. Things were quiet and from the looks of things, all the customers had been driven out and replaced with a lot of men with guns marching around and looking for anything suspicious. He got ready to move out when he heard the distorted crackling of a radio just behind the tire his head was beside. "Cccrrk. Anything yet captain? Cccrrk."

"Nothing. Malone managed to board himself up in his office. We're waiting for our orders. From the sounds of it, that guy wants him alive. Is everyone in position?"

"Cccrrk. Yessir. We're ready for orders whenever you're ready. Cccrrk."

"Good, I'll be there in a few minutes. Tell me if Malone does anything funny."

"Cccrrk. Rodger. Cccrrk."

The guy started moving away and his feet appeared. Ranma took a quick glance around to see if anyone was near and realized that he couldn't make a move. If he had more then a handgun shoved somewhere down his pants then he'd be able to raise some hell, but as it stood the risks were too high. He watched the captain get on the elevator and saw him start going up. He backed off and crawled outside again and started looking around. He noticed that from the top of the truck he could jump onto the side of the building and maybe break into a room through a window. He started climbing up the front end of the truck and got on top of the carport roof feeling a lot like the Prince of Persia. He crept along the side of the building and got to a window that put up a fight to open. When he was in he saw a couple half naked people crouched at the side of the bed with the sheets over them. The woman looked ready to scream, but Ranma put a finger to his lips saying, "Shhh…" and pulled out his wallet and flashed it too quick for them to catch what he was showing. "I'm a cop don't worry. Just stay quiet and I'll be out of your hair."

Ranma pressed his back to the wall and opened the door just enough to see through a crack. There was a guy standing in the hallway facing away with a smoke and an Uzi leaving Ranma to pull out his own gun and try to keep it silent. He reached over to a chair and pulled a cushion off and placed it hard against the end as a makeshift silencer. He opened the door quickly, stepped out and pulled the trigger three times, but unless pillows could now deflect bullets and muffle sound completely, then the soft clicks of the hammer meant that he was out of ammo. The man started turning around and with a dumb expression on his face, Ranma rushed back into the room and closed the door quickly but silently, while breathing hard. He looked quickly under the gun to see that the clip was missing and with this discovery, his face went red and his eyes narrowed.

The half naked man held his girl close and asked, "What's wrong officer?"

"That dyke took my clip when I was out!" In the underground parking Jerry sneezed as she reloaded her gun and was thankful she had killed everyone with all her spare ammo or she would have been heard.

Ranma kept his eyes started scanning the room for anything that could be used to harm someone, but the man's voice broke Ranma's search. "Officer, I uhhh… found this here when I came."

The man was holding out Dessert Eagle 50 caliber hand cannon. Ranma blinked and took it without a single thought. "This'll be useful."

"J-just remember, it's not mine officer. Please get rid of those guys."

"Oh, I'll be sure to do just that. You didn't happen to find a few extra clips rolled up in a pair of socks did you?"

"N-no… Sorry officer…" And just as the man said it, he and Ranma both realized that they had both been talking a bit too loud and that the door knob was now rattling a little. It was clear someone was trying to get in without having any luck due to the key card locks, but a rough knock on the door and a man's voice came from the other side.

"Open the door or I'll blow the lock off!" Just as he finished his threat, the door swung open striking him squarely in the face, which was quite a feat because the doors were designed to swing inwards and not outwards, and with even less warning he felt a relentless crushing blow strike him in the chest over and over again, until finally he saw the underside of a boot soar towards him. Ranma boot stomped the man's head well into the wall with one powerful kick and if he was either dead or merely unconscious, didn't seem to fall into Ranma's interests. The man's gun did as well as the interesting suit he was wearing. It was like those fake SWAT guys he'd seen earlier, and as luck would have it, he seemed to be fairly close to the same measurements. Ranma grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him into the occupied room wear the clothes would be exchanged.

Downstairs Jerry had met up with a few of the real security guys, and to say that she was a little upset was something of an understatement. "I didn't fucking hire you idiots hide in a fucking laundry room, did I?"

"They were gonna kill us though boss…" A slim ashamed looking man said, as he looked away, red with embarrassment.

"Oh, right!" Jerry screamed. "You know, not once when looking over your résumés, did I find that in a situation where security is needed, that all of you fucks would hide out in the basement with your tongues lodged firmly up each others big fat gaping ass holes! This is embarrassing! You dipshits have embarrassed me, and I will not be em-fucking-barrassed in front of fucking anyone! Especially Jasper Garino! I outta skull fuck each and every one of you fat flaming fucks, you hear me!" Jerry now had about twelve guys pressed up against a wall all of whom were cowering in fear.

After a moments silence, one man on the verge of tears and shaking violently finally asked, "Wh-what should we do…?"

"I'll fucking tell you what to do! You are to go out there and start killing anyone that shouldn't be in this building!"

"B-but-"

"No buts! If your afraid of dying then let put something in you head to stir around!" Jerry's eyes flashed and started looking dangerous, and even though it seemed impossible, Jerry's voice got louder. "Death is a sweet mercy compared what can happen between you and me in this room alone with a single paper clip! There isn't enough room in Hell for the agony I will inflict upon your fleshy bodies, unless you get your asses out there and start slaughtering every last one of those pin-dick-bug-fuckers right the fuck now!"

None could move for a moment and the room seemed to heat up a little, but with one stiff movement Jerry pulled a single paper clip out of her pocket and started bending it in a way that gave it a savage looking hook design to it. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, or the angle of the light, but it was unmistakable to all of them that there seemed to be something red and crusted all around it. It could have been rust, but before Jerry had finished untangling it with a cold glare etched on her face, the door had been knocked off the hinges and her employees were back to work. With only a slight look of disappointment, Jerry bent the paper clip back to the way it was and put it back in her pocket and pulled out a cigar. She stuck it in her mouth, lit it and smiled.

Ranma pulled the black ski mask over his face and found the stairs leading down back to the ground floor. When he opened the door to the lobby he immediately had guns pointing at him, but all the trigger fingers relaxed and the man standing close to him ask, "What do you want?"

"I've got something for the captain, you know where he went?"

The man eyed him suspiciously and asked, "He's upstairs at Malone's office with that weird guy… Wait… What's wrong with your ear piece?"

"There was a cop upstairs and he jumped me, must have broke in the fight. There might be more around."

The man kept a careful eye on Ranma and said, "I'll tell him myself. Did you kill the cop?"

"Nah, I left him alive. I tied him up in room 212."

"Get back up there and keep an eye on him then."

Ranma snorted a bit angrily and turned. "Fine…" He headed back up the stairs and was annoyed that he couldn't weasel his way into the elevator. The last thing he wanted to do was run up to the top floor, but his options were few and short. Each floor became harder and harder to climb and it felt like each step had an increase in gravity until he got to the top and realized that he was still horribly out of shape. His face was slightly red and he breathing was a little heavy on the last step, but with a quick lean against the railing, he caught his breath quickly and opened the door leading towards Bugsy's office. Once again he was greeted with a flurry of turning guns which all eased after getting a good look at him. Ranma didn't wait for anyone to question him this time, but just broke out into hysterics. "Everyone! I saw the Kyoto Hurricane down on the seventh floor!"

Attention was grasped from all corners of the hallway and the man who was the captain stepped forward quickly. "Didn't you try to stop him? Why didn't you use the radio?"

"I ain't taking him on alone! I've heard stories about that guy! I didn't want him to hear me so I came up here quietly."

The captain waved at a group of four guys and said, "You show them where he is and kill that guy! He's the last problem we need right now."

"Yessir!" Ranma gave a half assed salute and motioned for the four to follow him. "C'mon!" The five of them ran down a few floors and came to the entrance quietly. "Ok, guys." Ranma whispered. "We'll get the drop on him, I'll take point." Ranma waved for one of them to hand him a big shiny SMG, and it was lucky he was wearing a mask because the stupid grin beneath would have given away everything. It was an old trick, but so simple. You just lead them into a room, get behind them and penetrate their defense. Ranma ran into the closest room, shot the opposing wall to shit and yelled, "He's here!"

The four guys ran in expecting hell and to an extent they were right. It was odd though; even though Ranma had all this firepower he didn't shoot a single bullets on these guys. No, he didn't shoot a single one, because he was thinking of a plan and a good one. He got behind them like he'd planned and started beating the living daylights out of them at thunderous speeds. Before they knew what was happening, they were all knocked out and Ranma had quite the collection of guns and finally a working headset. He started shooting the guns two at a time in no real order and screaming into the mic. "He's killing us! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Send backup! Send backup!" Quickly he threw all the unconscious guys around and scattered them in the hall in random places. He got into position and waited while firing off a gun at a wall a few times, and then he put on a convincing cover that he was dazed, confused, and scared. He whipped around a few times pretending to look for something when he noticed that the door at the end of the hall had creaked open a little. Ranma back stepped slowly towards it and whispered, "He's here somewhere… I didn't see what room he went into…" The door opened a little wider and a small flood of men pooled out soundlessly.

Ranma got behind them and waited until they were all searching and not paying him much notice, which was right when he started running back up the stairs. He got to the top floor a little winded again, but he kept moving. When he opened the door to the hallway he saw something he wasn't expecting. He was expecting to see a few less guys due to his call, but to see someone had already killed every one up here for him in this short time was a shock indeed. The double doors to Bugsy's office looked to be kicked in and apparently Bugsy had put up quite the fight. Ranma panicked, made a rash move and rushed into to see the damage. There was one person in the office and it was not Bugsy Malone, but a man clad in a Hawaiian shirt, rummaging through the desk. Ranma forgot his disguise and asked without thinking, "Tommy, what the hell are you doing?"

Tommy Vercetti wheeled around with a gun in hand and started to unload. "Don't fuck with me asshole!"

With reactions faster then thought, Ranma fell to the side narrowly missing the hail of bullets, and had his own gun out, but he didn't shoot. "Tommy! What the fuck are you doing here?"

Vercetti pulled the trigger to his fully automatic pistol and forced Ranma to roll away quickly. "You thought you could set up Tommy Vercetti? No one sets up Tommy Vercetti!" His face was red and he when he shot again he screamed like a maniac. "Hold still asshole!"

"Tommy! Holy fuck! It's me! Ranma!" His voice was muted through the gunfire as he spoke and Ranma began to wonder subconsciously where the hell Tommy was getting all this ammo. "Tommy! Stop fucking shooting!"

Expelled rounds broke through the wall Ranma had put between him and Tommy, and found that he had to practically kiss the floor to avoid it. "Hey punk! If you manage to get away, tell Jasper the next time he wants to someone out, to do it himself! You fruits'll never kill me! I'm Tommy Vercetti! Remember the name asshole!" and once again bullets flew everywhere.

Once the shots stopped Ranma sat up, pulled off his mask and yelled. "Tommy, stop shooting! It's me Ranma!" A moment of silence passed and he was thinking about coming out, until he heard the cocking of a shotgun. He didn't have any time to get down, but it was a miss anyways. The wall just to the left of his head blew to pieces as a nice new uneven hole was made. "Fuck Tommy!"

Then silence again and after a while he heard his voice. "Ranma? Why the hell are you in with Jasper?"

Ranma got mad. "I'm not in with him you fucking dingbat! I am very much against him! I want to kill him!"

Another silence… "Why are you wearing a uniform then?"

"Because I beat up a man and stole his clothes, why else?" Later, Ranma would think that was a stupid statement but it would only ever be a passing thought. "Are you gonna shoot me if I come out?"

"I guess not."

Ranma appeared from around the corner, took a look around and asked, "What the fuck's going on? Why are you here?"

Tommy shrugged. "Oh, Jasper called me in to repay a debt I owe him, said he wanted me to kill some guy calling himself the Hurricane or something. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking about some Mexican wrestler with a mask when I hear it." Tommy stopped and gave a look at Ranma. "Do you always look like shit?"

"Huh?"

Tommy pointed at Ranma in general. "The last time I saw you, ya looked like you'd been shot and dragged through the woods, and now you look like you've been hit in the face with a car engine."

Ranma laughed at how true this actually was. "I like to play rough, and sometimes I get what's coming." Ranma looked back at the desk and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Bugsy Malone."

Ranma shrugged and smiled. "I don't think he could fit in the desk."

"Very funny wise guy. When we busted in he wasn't here. Then the captain decided to turn all the guns on me, I killed everyone and was looking for clues."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "You still wanna kill him?"

"Nah. You see Bugsy was in here when we got to the door, so I'm looking to see how he got out. I don't plan on running down ten floors for the front door."

Ranma scratched his head. "That's understandable, but I don't think Bugsy made an escape route here."

"How would you know?" Tommy asked suspiciously.

"I'm one of the owners, hence why I'm here whooping ass." As Ranma said it, there was a sound of many shuffling feet coming from the hallway and they both seemed to realize that they had spent too much time catching up. Immediately they both charged out with guns drawn and back-to-back to they fired down each end of the hall.

There were screams amongst the gunfire, but the loudest came from Tommy. "You want some of this!" The hallway filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder became thicker and thicker with each spent round. The flood of Jasper's boys seemed to stop for a moment, but there was then the sound of something small and heavy being thrown. Ranma saw it bouncing towards him and his eyes went wide with fright.

Without warning he grabbed Tommy and pulled him back into Bugsy's office with him. It was a short second before they both heard the sharp explosion come from the hall, and neither wasted any time. Tommy went and shut the doors the best he could while Ranma started pushing the desk to barricade it. They then grabbed an end of a love seat, chucked it on top of the desk, but when they pulled the filing cabinet about five feet from the wall, they both stopped and looked in amazement. "Is that a laundry shoot?"

Tommy gave it a look as well and shook his head. "No, it's a trash shoot." Tommy beckoned Ranma towards it. "Ladies first."

Without a word Ranma went down the steel slope and as the banging on Bugsy's door started up Tommy hung in the slope, pulled a handle that was screwed into the back of the cabinet and left without a trace.

He's just gotten up and brushed himself off when Tommy followed him down and used Ranma's face as a landing pad. What was worse was that Tommy didn't even apologize to him. "Well get out of the way next time!" When they both finished brushing the filth off of them there was a curious sound coming from the darkened basement around them.

"Who's there?" Ranma shouted as he drew his gun up. There was no response, but Ranma caught a glimpse of a sleeve from a shirt behind one of the many columns and he pointed silently to Tommy. He nodded and he pointed his shotgun in the direction and began to unload which is when all the screaming started. Men from every angle began to come out of hiding with guns drawn and to Tommy's surprise; Ranma put a hand on his gun and cut him off from firing it anymore. "Jerico! When did you get here? Where's Hikori?"

Tattoo man Jerico lowered his gun and smiled something evil. "Hey, you gave us all a scare. Hikori's decided to go down to Jasper's meeting place with the rummies. He's got something big planned and said that you need to get down there as soon as we're done here."

"Got a plan does he?" Ranma scratched his head and thought for a few seconds. "Have you guys seen Bugsy kicking around?"

Jerico shook his head. "No, but we think he's on the first floor. Jerry went to go check it out."

"Ok, I'll follow her up and see what's going on. You guys do a sweep of each floor and get rid of them all." He then turned to Tommy. "How about you? What are you doing?"

Tommy gestured towards the entrance to the parking lot. "I'm heading out, I've got something to take care of. I'll see you around."

"See ya." Ranma waved him off and turned back to Jerico. "Let's rock."

Ranma was getting tired of seeing stairs and even more tired of climbing them, but on the up side a welcoming sight greeted him. Every one in the fake commando suits was now very dead and the trails of bodies lead to the elevator. He went over to it and saw on the fancy old fashion style dial above the doors that it was up on the top floor again. "Oh, for fuck sakes…" He shook his head and pressed the button. He waited a few moments and when the doors slid open he saw a sight that wasn't so welcoming. There were bodies, yes, not all were dead, but they were of the hotel security guards and one in the back was the only one with a large gunshot wound and able to hold as gun since he pointed a shaky one at Ranma. "What the hell happened?"

The guard seemed to recognize Ranma and lowered his gun with an effort. "The boss is up on the ninth floor… Ya gotta help the boss…" Whether he slipped into unconsciousness or died, Ranma didn't know, but he got in and pressed the nine. When the doors slid open again he heard yelling and screaming, but no gun fire. There were dead guys everywhere and the walls were splattered red. Definably Jerry's handiwork, but Ranma stepped slowly with caution anyways. He approached a room where the yelling was coming from and peered in to see quite the situation. It took Ranma a moment to realize that it was Ukyo's private room, but that wasn't the only problem.

Jerry was between two people, Ryouga and the captain that Ranma has assumed dead. Ukyo was covering Ryouga against his will and Jerry had a gun to her chest and on the other side she had another gun pointed randomly at Akane whom was covering the captain against her will. What was more was that Akane had a gun to her head and Jerry seemed to be seriously debating the issue. There was no time. If Ranma marched in he risked being shot by the irate Jerry and the captain with an itchy trigger finger. He couldn't make a plan because there was no plan. He had to take the risk to save Akane, so he went in with his gun drawn, hoping the captain would take a shot at him and in turn Jerry take her shot on him.

Something happened and it was so quick, Ranma had to look down to see what had happened. He marched in, yes, but there was one person he hadn't seen. There was a man hiding behind the door and he was scared out of his mind. He was in a cheap suit; his skin was pale and covered in a cold sweat and he was thin like he had forgotten to eat for some time. A junky that must have hid in Ukyo's room when the gunfire started, and he had but one weapon. A long thin needle full of his addictive product. When Ranma came in he became scared enough to strike without thinking and buried the needle deep into Ranma's leg. It felt as though the veins in his leg were going to burst with the speed and pressure in which the fluid entered him. Only one person in the room shot a bullet and it was Jerry, who shot the addict between the eyes, who in turn received a bullet in her chest. Then it all started.

Jerry went down blinded with pain and firing the guns in any direction, especially in the direction of Akane. Ranma made a dash to cover Akane, but Ryouga was closer and was reacting faster then he thought. Ryouga pushed Ukyo to the ground and covered Akane as he felt hot lead enter through his back. Ryouga fell to the ground taking Akane with him and leaving Ranma open for the kill. He ran and tried to fire, but his gun was empty, so instead he just threw it and kept charging. His heart beat fast and his head started feeling funny. For a moment his eyes blurred and heard shots fired at him. All missed and soon Ranma lunged for the captain, his left hand grabbed hold of the gun, but his right was caught and quickly the captain spun Ranma fast and threw him towards the large window. He was thrown with such forced that he felt his back break through and shatter the glass and soon he was outside in the night sky, nine stories up, with the captain's gun in his hand.

He felt himself falling and there was a crawling feeling in his chest, but without thinking he took aim fired a single shot into the head of the captain. After that he watched the window fly further and further away from him and saw Akane's head come over the ledge and scream his name.

-

-

(J. Ralf – Kansas City Shuffle: Two things. Yes, I saw Lucky Number Sleven and love this song and holy crap I haven't updated in a while. I'm going back to school and didn't realize how much of my time it was going to take up. Anyways, I've thought of a way to remedy this problem. For my last bunch of chapters I'm going to make them shorter, but in turn there's going to be more chapters then before. This is just so they come out faster.)


	29. Heroin

Heroin

(Billy Idol – Heroin)

His eyes were closed and the only sound he heard was the tranquil beat of his heart. His body had been engulfed in so much pain that all felt numb save for his chest. It was in a flurry of pain, it felt like something had pierced through it and had burst through his rib cage. He tried to open his eyes, but everything remained dark and blurred to him. He tried pushing himself up, but his arms felt as thought they had massive weights attached to them. He couldn't move even though he felt warm and his head seeming weightless. He didn't know if he could move, or if his body just didn't want to, but beneath his hands he felt something cold against them. It was bent and broken all around him, with shattered glass scattered across him like raindrops. It was comforting for some reason and slowly he began to nod off, but moments later he heard something that seemed far away to him. It was a call of some kind, but it was too distant and too far back in his mind to bother listening too, so he just nodded off again. Then something or someone started shaking him making that pain in his chest tear at him, but someone else came by and shouted at whoever was shaking him. He stopped moving and felt that familiar feeling of comfort sweep over him and he started dozing off once more.

Bugsy had walked out of the casino with Marci just as Ranma had fallen out of the sky and belly flopped on his car. The car dropped down a few inches as the roof caved in and all the glass was blown out the sides with a deafening crash. Both Bugsy and Marci stared in horror at the totaled car, but it took a few moments for both of them to figure out who had landed on it. Marci was the one that ran towards him first shouting; "Uncle!" and her father followed her in a dumb shock. With tears in her eyes she started shaking Ranma to wake him up, but Bugsy pulled her back and told her to stop while holding her close. He was shocked beyond belief. Ranma Soatome, the Kyoto Hurricane was now dead. He couldn't believe it, so he just stared at the body waiting for something to happen, anything. He was face down with one hand still holding a gun and another over his head, while his legs were sprawled in a way that made him look like he was trying to crawl away. Bugsy finally looked away and felt a tear coming to his eye. He picked up Marci and started taking her away, but she started hitting him and went into a fit. "Papa! We can't leave uncle here! Papa! Where are you going?"

Bugsy just held her tight and didn't let go. "There's nothing we can do for him Marci… We need to get to a safe place."

"No! Put me down papa!" Marci's wailing was coming out strong now and she defied him for every inch she was worth, but then someone came out of the casino that she knew could help. "Doctor Tofu! Uncle Ranma's hurt! You have to help him!"

Tofu looked shocked and saw the demolished car. "What happened?"

Bugsy turned back and looked down. "I don't know, but I think he was thrown off the roof. He's dead doctor…"

Tofu shook his head. "No…"

"It's true…"

Tofu shook his head again. "No, I mean that couldn't have killed him. Not a short fall like that." Tofu immediately rushed over to Ranma and felt for a pulse. His eyes went wide and he waved Bugsy over. "He's alive!"

Bugsy rushed over with Marci still in his arms. "How?"

Tofu gave him a sly smile. "I've been his family doctor for years Mr. Malone. This is nothing compared to what I used to have to treat him for." But then Tofu's face dropped. "I just don't understand why he's not moving… Is he actually unconscious…?" He rolled Ranma over and immediately Ranma groaned, looked around with a glazed look at nothing in particular and then his head fell back going to sleep and giving off a hollow thunk sound as his head hit the car. Tofu looked puzzled and did a quick check. "Not a single bone is broken…" He then started smacking Ranma's cheek lightly. "Ranma! Wake up!"

He didn't budge, but Marci got out of her father's arms, pushed Tofu aside, climbed up, balled up her tiny fist, reeled back as far as she could go and clobbered Ranma across he face with an quite an audible force. "WAKE UP!" Ranma's eyes shot open and he rolled off the badly compacted roof to the ground to the two men's feet. He started mumbling something to himself as he pushed himself up, but his arms gave out and he tasted pavement.

Tofu knelt to Ranma's side and tried to make Ranma focus on him. "Ranma. Can you hear me? Ranma!"

His eyes remained glazed, but for a brief moment his eyes locked onto Tofu but quickly lost interest as he went back to nodding his head and mumbling in something of a whisper under his breath. "No, no, no… Tofu's not here… He left with the others… Akane safe… Gotta go see Hikori…" Ranma made an attempt for his feet oblivious to everyone there, and on the second attempt he made it, but Tofu was worried as he started to see the symptoms.

"Ranma. Are you high?" The lazy absent look and redness of the eyes told Tofu the answer right away. "What did you take?"

Ranma had a puzzled expression on his face as the words hit him and he stopped thinking back before he fell. "He stuck me with it… What was it…? Drugs…" Ranma then made another attempt to focus on Tofu, but this time he reach up with his heavy hand and pushed Tofu's face away from him in anger and defiance. "Tofu's not here… Hallusi-something… Ignore it… Gotta stay straight…" Ranma started stepping away towards an alleyway. "Gotta go help Hikori…"

Tofu stepped in front of Ranma and yelled. "Ranma! What were you injected with?"

Ranma's face twisted into something of tired anger and with little warning, his fisted tightened and struck Tofu hard, sending him to the ground. He pointed his gun at Tofu, not so much in a threatening manner, but as he would use his index finger. "You're not real!" and at that Ranma staggered off down the dark streets using the tall brickwork walls as support.

Tofu got up holding his bleeding nose but didn't give chase. Bugsy helped him and said, "I'll go catch him." But Tofu shook his head.

"No, we know where he's heading and in his state of mind he's very dangerous. If we run off to catch him he'll just attack us, besides I have to figure out what's making him high."

Bugsy stood stupid for a minute and asked, "Isn't there something that can at least calm him down in the meantime?"

Tofu nodded. "Yes, but if it's wrong and I give him something without knowing what he already took, then he might overdose." The sound of loud footsteps was heard behind them and both turned to see Akane covered in blood. Tofu gasped as he caught her and her eyes were full and flowing. "Akane! What happened to you?"

"Where's Ranma! Where is he?" She almost yelled it in blind hysteria.

Tofu patted her shoulders. "He's alright for the most part. He's up and running around and Heading towards Hikori. Now where are you bleeding?"

Akane shook her head violently. "No, it's not mine. Doctor, you have to help Ryouga and Jerry! They've been shot!"

Tofu nodded and said, "Show me the way." The both ran back into the building and left Bugsy alone with Marci.

He found her hand and started heading back as well while taking out his cell phone. "Come on Marci, let's go someplace safe for now."

As he punched in the numbers Marci asked. "Will uncle be okay?"

Bugsy smiled and nodded to his daughter and did the only decent thing he could and lied to her. "He'll be just find…" He put the phone to his ear and spoke when someone answered. "Nabiki, there's been a change in plans. Get every one out of hiding and make sure Ranma gets to Hikori safely…" The small inaudible voice of Nabiki spoke and Bugsy's face dropped. "I know, Jasper saw this all coming just like you said he would…" Bugsy's face started looking angry and he was on the verge of rolling his eyes. "I know I should have listened to you, okay, so just drop it. Look your back up plan is going to have to be played, but remember what I said. Jasper cannot think for a second that all of you are still in town and the same goes for Ranma or else he's going to go off and try saving everyone. He's really high right now and seemed to think the doctor was a hallucination, so if you're going to help him then keep it discreet and make sure he thinks he's just seeing things." Bugsy's expression started to become annoyed and he cut off Nabiki as she spoke on the phone. "I know it's a tall order, but you know him better then I do! So you should know that he's going to play hero the second one of you guys look like you're in trouble. Keep you heads down and just follow the plan!" Nabiki started talking, but Bugsy just yelled into the phone again. "You're not the boss of me! I'm the boss! Me!" and hung up.

Marci looked up curiously. "What's wrong papa?"

"Nothing Marci, I just refuse to believe that she's better at this then me, that's all."

With a look and voice of utter innocents she asked, "Is she?"

Bugsy's face went red and he seemed to yell at the door they were about to enter with an utter disgust and absolute furry. "YES!"

Ranma had made it down a street he either hadn't recognized or had never been in. Everything in his world was quiet and walking felt like dragging a couple of cement trucks without any wheels. He was bound to fall over at some point and when he did he had hardly noticed the difference. He was laying in the filth of some neglected garbage bag and once again he wanted to fall asleep. He rolled onto his back and stared into the night sky between the buildings. It wasn't until he was momentarily blinded by a splash of water the he realized that it was starting to rain. It didn't feel nice against his skin and soon his chest was hurting again, but this time for a different reason. Even though the rain was just a light spit it was enough to change him and it was this that got her up with the feeling of discomfort. Ranma's limbs were leaning on the verge of impossible to move but determination got her back to her feet.

When she was up she finally looked down at herself and thought to drop off some weight. Most of the uniform she had stolen had come off including the Kevlar vest leaving her with not much, but a pair of jeans and a zipped up coat now feeling a little tight around the chest area. Finally she took a step feeling the walk made easier and Ranma did everything she could to focus her eyes on the street ahead and keep moving towards it. Each step was slow and the sway of her head from side to side made her blink and want to nod off again and again.

The wall she leaned against was her lifeline and support, but something at the end of the road caught her eye. "Shampoo…? No… Just a hallucination…" The figure ahead of Ranma was blurred to her vision, but the strange color of the hair stood out.

The figure was exiting a taxi and after she paid the driver he put the taxi in reverse, did a three-point turn and came towards Ranma. The window was rolled down and a generic looking man said, "The last person said you didn't look to good and paid me extra to take you where you needed to go."

And then it hit her… Ranma had no clue where she was suppose to go. "I don't know…" She said weakly in a lazy monotone voice while trying to pick her foggy brain for an answer. "I don't know where to go…"

The driver smiled and pointed his thumb to the back, "How about I just take you home miss. You don't look so good."

Without much though, and in need of a break she climbed in, but into the passenger seat and thought of a location that was far away so she had time to think. "Take me to the docks…" The driver nodded and started driving to the other end of town.

Ranma went into deep thought, but this involved closing her eyes and in turn she nodded off again and slumped her head against the shoulder of the driver. An instant flush of red smothered the drivers face and he tried asking her is she was ok, but she just moaned and unknowingly to her it sounded kind of cute. "Umm… Miss…?" Then she did something she never would have done if awake and fully aware. She got comfier and snuggled up to him. The driver gave a gulp and eventually put an arm around her slowly. "Is… Is it okay if I do this Miss?" And Ranma just gave another moan, which he took to be a yes.

Ranma woke up to something strange. It was something she had been shrugging off for a little while now, but it had finally gotten the better of her and woke her up. It was dark and something was going on. Something was touching her face and it took a moment to place it. They were lips and something else was happening. She rolled her eyes down and saw that the zipper to her coat was slowly being unzipped and that the inside of her leg was being massaged. Her mind started to wander on her about what was happening until a voice grasped her attention. "This is okay? You don't mind?" Against Ranma's will her voice abandoned her and she let out nothing more then a groan, which he took to be a yes.

The effects of the drug made her lazy and her arms didn't feel like fighting today and then she felt a hand slip into her coat and start fondling her. She groaned again in protest, but the driver mistook it for pleasure and continued. Then the horror hit her, she felt her lips kissed, but it went deeper. His tongue has slipped into her mouth trying to provoke her to return to favor, but all she did was groan again trying to fall back lazily and away. The feeling in her arms was coming back and they weren't feeling so heavy anymore. Her heart started beating faster and faster pushing blood through her body and waking her up. Then a noise came to her, and she had known it because it was same clinking her belt made when she put on one. His tongue was still down her throat and that single hand was still violating her chest, but the other hand had made it's way to the driver's pants and he was getting ready for some playtime. "Let's do this Miss… You're making me so fucking horny."

The adrenalin finally struck her veins and her hand became hers again. In one swift motion she reached up and grabbed both sides of his head and smashed it against the driver's side window, shattering it and leaving him both unconscious and bloody. She kicked and flailed with everything she had until she opened the door and kicked his limp body out of the car. She then slammed the door and clutched the steering wheel until her knuckles went white and she grit her teeth hard enough to make her head shake. Never in her life had it come that close, not like that at least. Her breathing started to become jagged and he stomach seemed to want to do a back flip on her. She leaned over quickly and opened the passenger side door and began to heave.

When she finished puking her guts out she closed the door and started pulling the coat tightly around her and started rocking back and forth taking in deep breaths feeling another heave coming on, but it subsided and for a moment as she went very quiet, and then the full force of what would have happened hit her. The tears filled her eyes and for a brief moment, Ranma became very vulnerable. "Oh god…" She started shaking her head and started beating the steering wheel. "Fucking hell…" And then she became very angry. She fished the gun out of her coat and opened the door, stepping out and standing over the unconscious man. "Who the fuck are you? Huh? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

A moment before she pulled the trigger a hand came up and held the slider in place. "You don't need to be murdering people out here on the docks ma'am." And he yanked that gun out of her hand. "You have a car, so take it and go where ever it is you need to go."

Ranma didn't take her eyes off the driver she came so close to plugging, but she did speak to the man that stopped her. "I… I don't know where to go though… I'm lost…" She kept looking at the unconscious man and as she did she started to recall the felling of his arms all over her. Her nose became a little runny and she let out a small hiccupped. "What the hell's wrong with me…? I want to be sober again…" Her head slumped down and she looked ready to cry. "I was almost raped…"

Then a sharp voice came out of the man beside her. "Don't look so weak! It didn't happen and it's not going to happen any other way! Now stand up straight!" The harsh voice made Ranma's head jerk back in unexpected fear, but the runny nose stopped and she started standing straight like she was told. She finally caught a glimpse of him and he was both tall and wide, but he was covered in darkness and all she could make out in her state was a long tied coat and a fishing hat along with a pair of glasses reflecting some light from somewhere." Try not to look so pathetic girly." He said with a hint of disgust. "Now think, can't you call someone?" The gruff man said in almost a mocking voice.

The thought had never occurred to her and she blinked tiredly. "…Yeah… I… I can…" She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket, but looked at it in sorrow. It was smashed to pieces. "I need a new phone…" Her voice began to drop again and became mechanical and depressed as if the last forty seconds were now just a distant nightmare.

A large hand reached over and in it was a cell phone flipped open and ready. "Use mine then." With little thought she took the phone and started punching in the numbers for Hikori's phone while looking at the panda background on the tiny screen and not giving it much thought.

She waited and heard him answer his phone and she smiled with relief. "It's me… Where are you?"

Hikori stuttered on the other end and said, "Where am I? Where the fuck are you? I've got calls coming out my fucking ying-yang saying that you took a nine-story swan dive out of the casino and onto Bugsy's car and that now you're parading around Nerima sky high on heroin. I'll ask you this. Are you alright?"

Ranma blinked as she hardly remembered any of this happening, especially the fall. "I fell…?"

A long pause took over the phone for a minute and Hikori sighed. "You're still high aren't you? Ranma, I can't have you high right now I need you here and I need you in a clear state of mind… Actually no, you'll probably find it easier to do it if you're high…"

Ranma looked around dumbly and rubbed her head. "I need help Hikori… I forgot where I am and I'm really scared… Someone just tried to rape me and I'm lost… I'm really tired and… and…"

"Ranma! Shut the fuck up and look around! What do you see?" Ranma stayed quiet for a long moment as she looked around and saw some crates. The car was parked in a shaded area between two large cargo crates and the sound of water could be heard. She stepped out and kept looking around in a bit of awe. "Ranma! What do you see?"

"Boats… I think I'm close to… to Jerry's old place… but not… I don't know… Hold on…" Ranma looked around for the man that had given her a phone, but both him and the driver where gone. A trail of blood etched the pavement as if someone bleeding had been dragged away. "I think there's a crazy person here… You gotta come get me… I can't fight…"

Hikori's voice came out firm on the other end. "Yes you can Ranma. I want you to get into an open area and I'll send someone to get you."

Ranma shook her head as if Hikori could see her. "No, I want you to come… I don't have a gun…"

"I can't I have to-"

"I've got your smokes…" Ranma said almost too quickly considering her state of mind.

There was a short pause on the phone and finally, "I'll be there in five minutes. Do as I said, and if anyone other then me approaches you, I want you to beat the living fuck out of them. Do you understand?"

Ranma shook her head again. "I don't have a-"

Hikori's voice cut Ranma off and he used a raised voice as if trying to explain something very simple to a rocket engineer. "You don't need a gun Ranma. I've seen you fight without one plenty of times and it's actually scarier when you don't have one. Now get in front of a fucking cargo bay and wait for me."

Ranma went very quiet for a moment as if in thought and said, "Okay…"

-  
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(Billy Idol – Heroin: I actually though this song was done by Iggy Pop, but on a closer inspection it was not and since this song is all of awesome, hard to download (which I have never done, nor do I condone in any way, shape, or form 'cough'), and done by my hero Billy Idol I can honestly say that it is the song intended. Anyways this little shortened chapter idea of mine seems to work. I get a chapter done in decent time, I feel relaxed, and I'm not trying to drag anything out. The only drawback is that it's harder to torture people with chapter after chapter of mundane cliffhangers.)


	30. Stop The Rock

Stop The Rock

(Apollo 440 – Stop The Rock)

When Hikori pulled into the docks he spotted Ranma immediately, but what Ranma was doing was beyond him. From the looks of things she was swinging wildly at something with a broken off showerhead. Hikori wanted to ask two question when he got out; the first one was what Ranma was swinging at and the second was where the hell she got a showerhead from, but there was a question that took priority over both. "Where're my smokes?"

Instantly Ranma turned with a finger to her lips, "Shhhh! It's close by…"

"What?" Hikori caught a glimpse of the intoxicated look in Ranma's eyes. She staggered around both tired and afraid with sketchy eyes looking in every direction and when she didn't answer him, he raised his voice. "What? What's close by?"

Ranma turned around and looked at him sharply while stepping slowly towards him with a hunched expression. "Those little evil bastards… Hairy and greasy all over… Glowing eyes…" Ranma described them, as she would have if it had been an invader from space. "Claws like you wouldn't believe. Look here! It got me right under the eye!"

Ranma did in fact have a small scratch under her eye, but Hikori looked unimpressed. "You tried kicking a cat again didn't you?"

Ranma looked morally offended and gave him a dirty look. "It attacked me first! You don't know them like I do…"

"Sit down."

"What?"

"Sit!" Hikori pointed his finger straight at the ground and Ranma continued looking angry as she sat down. Hikori then sat down in front of her cross-legged and said, "Now take three deep breaths." Ranma closed her eyes and did so. "Good, now where are you?"

"I'm in my anxiety bubble."

Hikori nodded. "Now what did Doctor Quant say?"

Ranma moved around uncomfortably and said, "He said that there is nothing to fear from cats. They are more scared of me then I am of them."

Hikori nodded. "Good, now take three more breaths and tell me how you feel."

Ranma just started looking angry again. "It's not working… I told you he was a quack!"

Hikori sighed. "Not this again… Please…"

"He stuck his finger up my bum! How can I trust a man like that?"

Hikori then rolled his eyes. "Ranma… You were at a high risk of having prostate cancer. He had to do it and he did it as professionally as one could do a proctology exam."

"He was in there for hours!"

"Twelve seconds actually… He just gave your prostate a scratch and was out in no time." Hikori corrected.

"A scratch? That was no scratch that was an archeological dig! I mean seriously. What was he expecting to find? The Holy Grail perhaps? Maybe a long lost Shakespearian sonnet. For the amount of fishing around he did, he must have been excavating for the Lost Ark. There was enthusiasm, I swear!"

Hikori was starting to look away with a sneer and said, "Look Ranma. I'm not comfortable with talking about your anus and the many adventures it has had to endure. In fact I can live easier if we never mentioned it again, so shut up already. Also we're leaving the topic of your phobia long behind us and I can only assume that it has now become a moot issue with you. Now get the fuck in the car and lets get out of here."

It was a tad annoying because only moments before Ranma had been both energetic and speaking in full coherent sentences, but not anymore. Her head was against the window; she was getting ready to fall asleep again and now mumbling something about gophers. Yes it was wearing mentally on Hikori, but then again he wouldn't want Ranma any other way at the moment. "Do you understand what I want you to do?" He asked with a hopeful tone.

Ranma blinked a few times and smartly said, "Huh?"

Hikori sighed and grabbed a fist full of Ranma's hair on the back of her head and turned her head to face him. "Ok, I want you to listen to me this time." Ranma nodded and sort of stared at him like he was an astonishing, yet believable speckle throated galloping five-toed yak. "Ok, once we get back I want you to slip into the back in the disguise I got for ya, and then I want you to flash the vest we whipped up for ya. Understand."

"Uhhh…" she moaned with a glazed look in her eyes.

Hikori looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. She neither responded nor flinched, but she did start snoring. "Oh, for fuck sakes! How can you possibly sleep with your eyes open?" In a blind rage Hikori pulled the still steaming cup of coffee he had out of the cup holder and drenched Ranma in an instant. Ranma was awake and a man again, but before he could remember where he was, Hikori said, "Look this way."

"Wha-" and to Ranma's misfortune, Hikori had quite a convenient water bottle under his seat, which when Ranma turned his head he got a heavy stream of water in the face turning him back into a girl. After that Ranma just stared at Hikori with both a look of shock and confusion. For some reason anger never made it to her face. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"I'm your fucking partner in crime damnit!"

Ranma shook her head. "Right!"

Hikori brought the car to a halt where a small group of men were gathered. They both got out and Ranma started shaking to clear it while Hikori walked around and grabbed her arm firmly. "Get over here!" Before Ranma could figure out what was going on she was sat down in a small office with a shit load of rummies in, out and around the place she was in and was now looking around dumbfounded. Things seemed to happen so fast that it wasn't until there was a needle half buried in her arm that time seemed to slow down and get back to the right pace. Ranma gave a look at the needle pumping something into her arm and she just looked up at Hikori, but before she could ask, he answered. "It's adrenaline. It'll keep you from nodding off."

"Oh, ok…" Normally Ranma wouldn't trust anything Hikori had to inject into her due to the bumpy drug induced past of Hikori but she could trust one thing. He knew how to handle a needle with as little pain as possible; however the next thing she found herself doing was both strange and foreign to her. She was eating instant coffee right out of the jar. "Is this safe…?"

Hikori shrugged. "I'll be damned if I know, but what I do know is that shit'll keep you all nice and wired."

"Yeah… I think I'm feeling it…"

Hikori smiled. "Good, now finish up that jar quick, we've got some killin' to do."

Ranma ate another scoop and asked. "What's the plan again?"

"Ok, here it is. You're going to go into that building down the street, pretend that you're a stripper and get every one out of that building." Hikori seemed to smile to himself as if what he'd just said explained everything, but something didn't sit well with Ranma.

"I was nearly raped no less then fifteen minutes ago and you now want me to go put on some booty shorts and go flying tits and ass first into a crowd of very dangerous and very horny gangsters while Yakuza kicking every door along my way." A slight pause, then "Hikori, you're the most insensitive fuck stick I've ever met."

"Firstly, 'Yakuza kick' is a discriminating term used to describe a certain group of people that use a unique 'handshake', so as to not offend anyone it should be called the 'Japanese Business man kick'. Secondly, I wish you'd get over it, it's in the past."

"Fuck the Yakuza and fuck you ya smart ass! It was fifteen minutes ago!"

"Yes exactly, the past. Now put on the booty shorts and go be a hoe bag!" There was a finalization in Hikori's voice that somehow got Ranma to do what he wanted, even though it took about half an hour to do it. Within this half hour though there was much confusion with the matter and plan at hand along with much arguing. About five minutes in the original plan was abandoned, but at around the eight-minute mark the plan was rediscovered without any complaint, until that is when the eleventh minute came and the topic of the booty shorts came up again where as the plan was once again abandoned. Then the real confusion started because it was around the twenty second minute mark that Ranma finally agreed to the booty shorts and for reasons that could only be blamed on him still being a little high, he had both disagreed with the plan, but agreed to the booty shorts, which confused a few people because he had turned back into a man and was now wearing them. The remaining minutes were spent clearing up the issues, turning Ranma back into a girl, and driving her down the street to the back door where all the strippers were entering for Jasper's party. The only problem was that Ranma no longer had the booty shorts, but did agree to a bit of makeup to cover up the few scratches on her face. Hikori was just glad that Ranma was such a naturally cute girl that booty shorts and makeup didn't really matter, however passing for a stripper would be tough but Ranma had all the ability to get in on her own.

And so she Ranma did, only she wasn't inconspicuous about it. She had thrown the person who had answered the door into a dumpster without once thinking that the pretty lady with fake boobs and plastic heels wasn't a bouncer. Hikori watch with a bit of embarrassment as Ranma finished shoving a stripper into an oversized trashcan and enter the building looking around wildly in the most unconvincing display of secrecy he'd ever seen. Hikori was starting to have regrets for sending Ranma in, but then again he needed someone crazy to do what he wanted and since Ranma fulfill this tiny requirement, she was the only choice he had. Hikori felt like crying and lighting a candle for his soon to be dead friend, but instead he lit a smoke and called up Jerico. "Ok, get every one into position. This is going to be so goddamn cool!"

After a few minutes, Ranma discovered that she was lost, and not just lost, but Ryouga lost. The interior of the building was confusing and it seemed to have several floors. It felt like she was wandering through a miniature mall that was converted into some sort of living quarters. Wide isles complete with furnishings told her that this was a meeting place for large groups of people, but she should have already known that, it was just very unexpected.

What Ranma was expecting was some loud music with flashing lights and naked women everywhere, but there didn't seem to be any music or flashing lights anywhere. The naked women were around because she had walked right through the changing room to get in, but they weren't the only ones about. There were people around that was easy enough to tell with all the muffled voices heard coming from the walls and ceiling, but it was getting to them that was the hard part. It was as if there was a secret door somewhere leading to where all these hit men and thugs where, but it was impossible to find. I could have been because that the so-called secret door was actually just in a corner and Ranma had walked by it about nine times, but what she ended up doing was following a couple strippers going up and sneaking in when she assumed it was safe.

When she stepped in only a few noticed her but discarded her as just another stripper and didn't think much of it, but on the other hand she became slightly scared. Right away she saw all of the people in the same league as her and all were divided into nice little sections with black curtains to make makeshift half-walls around each area for privacy and the center portion being the main mingling section. In one part were all of the boys in the hood so to speak, and in another were the Yakuza showing off their famous business greeting kick although it wasn't a door they were doing it to, but a serving man that happened to ruin a fine suit with a curry of some kind. For a moment Ranma was interested because each section had it's own set of strippers. The bikers had some whip brandishing woman in leather chaps and cleavage you could ski down, while the Yakuza seemed to have one of the most disturbing displays of school girls that couldn't possibly be legal. From lolita's to Amazon's in the main areas and fags to trannies in the far corners, Jasper had found them all and brought them here to entertain his guests, but where was Jasper himself in all of this?

Ranma saw some lady with what could only be described as bazooka boobs complete with an American flag rocket bra that just barely concealed her massive titties. She was an import that was for sure; they just didn't build them like that here in Japan. Ranma rationalized this and decided that Jasper was a Yankee, so this must have been his section and thus was a good place to take a peek. As Ranma walked towards the section she did her best to remember what Jasper looked like.

He was a tall thin man with a long face, and jet-black hair streaked lightly by gray strands of age. And the eyes… The eyes were unforgettable. Yellow piercing eyes, like they belonged to some mystical yet utterly insane dragon. They were cold and empty like they belonged to a man that had seen death more times then he should have. They were scary eyes that could burn through yours and rape your mind. Now that Ranma thought about it she couldn't for the life of her think about how she concealed her identity to him the first time. He looked at her and without a word demanded all her secrets; maybe it was when Boris distracted him that he stopped gazing into Ranma's soul and accepted the lie for truth. Still… Thinking back, she came close to saying her name… "Ranma Soatome…"

Then like a dog to a whistle many words stopped and then many eyes turned to her. It wasn't everyone in the room, but everyone within earshot of the name Ranma had just mistakenly uttered under her breath. While a few people looked at her silently she couldn't help but think, 'those are some good eyes he's got.' She had almost stopped walking, but willed herself to keep going so as to not raise suspicion, but it was too late. Mid stride her arm was grabbed and she was being pulled away by a shady looking character and a few of his buddies closed in behind her so no one could see what was going on from behind. It didn't take long to get where they were going because it was just a public bathroom, but now the door was locked and in the room was Ranma and three men. "You've got some guts saying that name out loud lady and it should only be said for a good fucking reason. Now answer my questions or I'm gonna start smacking ya around. Is that guy here?"

Ranma just shrugged with a passive smile. "Not sure."

He looked at her questionably and asked. "Do you have a wire on and are you talking to him?"

"Nah, just thinking out loud."

The man then picked up Ranma with some ease, sat her on a sink and pulled out a knife. "I don't believe you. Tell me. Am I going to have to search you myself or are you gonna come clean?" The man seemed to grow a few inches over her as he leaned over her with cold eyes.

Ranma looked his face over and saw a few scars flecked here and there, and then at his head where his hair was thinning out into a bald spot. "You're a real ugly fucker aren't ya?"

The man smiled and let out a single amused throaty laugh. He then flashed the knife in front of her and said, "I'm gonna enjoy tearing off all your clothes. Maybe a bit of humiliation will smarten you up." He then pushed Ranma's legs apart and started unbuckling her belt.

"Shouldn't you start a little higher? Like here?" Ranma pulled open her coat and the man froze seeing something that sent him into a state of still panic. "Besides I don't like it when another guy tries to undress me."

This line confused the man for a brief moment, which was long enough for Ranma to grab the back of his head and chin and twist his head around. The sudden sound of bolts in a blender startled the other two men and they were astonished to see that their boss who was questioning the young woman, had just turned his head 180 degrees to look at them. "Duke!" One man yelled, but Ranma had pulled the gun out of the dead man's holster and used a hand full of his coat as horrible silencer that somehow got the job done. She closed her coat and dragged the three bodies into a stall with a 'business as usual' expression on her face and once she was done shoving in the man with permanent taco neck syndrome, she unlocked the door and cracked it open to see if anyone was waiting outside for her, and for once she was in luck, or so she thought.

Ranma took two and a half steps and stopped to briefly look at a stripper that seemed strangely familiar, but she was turned around so she couldn't tell for sure. Then, against her own will, Ranma said something to a stripper she never wanted to say in her life. "Mom?" The woman with the g-string dance around slowly waving her ass to this sections music and for a brief moment Ranma had the most sickening crawling feeling in her chest, like there was a huge hairy spider inside and setting up a nest. However as the stripper turned, Ranma saw that the face was completely different, and it was only the hairstyle that looked the same.

Ranma turned away quickly with a look of relief and said, "Thank god for that…" but as she let out this breath of relief another shock of horror passed through her.

Jasper Garino was standing right there in front of her and looking at her with those golden yellow eyes. He remembered her and from her look she remembered him. They both just stood their looking at each other, until Jasper broke the awkward moment. "There's something I really don't like about you. Did I make a mistake letting you walk away last time?"

Ranma then said something she shouldn't have. With a shrug of her shoulders and a passive smile she said, "Yeah, probably." Immediately Ranma pulled out the stolen gun and meant to fire it, but once again Jasper was inhumanly quick with his own. By the time Ranma had her gun pointed at Jasper's knee, Jasper had already pressed his firmly against Ranma's chest. "Wow… How did you get so fast?"

"You have to eat your greens." Ranma was then disarmed and Jasper was dragging her away by the throat towards the section he was hiding in.

A few people scattered out of the way as Jasper threw Ranma into a chair with a gun at her head and even despite this she had the gull to look around and say, "I wouldn't have pegged you for a guy into ladyboys."

"I'm not stupid lady and I think it's wise to stay in a place where my enemies wouldn't expect to find me. Besides, I'm not her here to check out a bunch of gross surgically remastered men. I'm here on business, how about you? You're not here to peel and I'm thinking back at Boris's place you weren't there to peel either. Was I right to think you're an undercover cop?"

Ranma shook her head in almost a bored expression. "Nah, I'm not a cop, but I'm surprised you don't know me yet."

Jasper went very silent for a moment and for the first time so far his henchmen actually moved beside him and also eyed the girl in front of them suspiciously. Jasper looked at her with those penetrating eyes and asked, "What's your name?" He said it slowly like he was getting ready to shoot her, but then a sound filled the air. It was quick and it sounded like a small digital beep, but anyone listening passed it off as something from a digital watch.

Ranma just smiled again and this time spoke with a flirtatious voice. "How about we have some fun first and then I tell you my name."

She started unzipping her coat slowly and Jasper had an expression that was both astonished and nostalgic. "You better not be…" The rest of this line was probably 'trying to tempt me with sex' or something but as she unzipped her coat he saw something that took the words out of his mouth. It was a vest with an alarming amount of explosives strapped to it and it wasn't the normal amount that you seen in the movies or on a standard jihad involving leveling buildings and bridges. This was an insane amount of the newest and most volatile shit on the market, and as if that weren't enough, there were many pipe bombs strapped to it with bundles of nails wrapped around them. Something was going to be destroyed and afterwards there wasn't going to be much of it left.

Jasper just stared at the thing that covered Ranma's torso, but oddly enough he was the only one that wasn't shaking. Ranma just kept smiling at him with that same passive look. "In case you haven't figured it out, I'm Ranma Soatome and I am not happy with you right now."

"So the rumor was true you're actually a woman. I find that quite funny actually; I have pictures of when you dressed up like a man. It seems I've had my boys chasing the wrong person." Even though Jasper said it was funny, he barely cracked a smile.

"Actually your boys couldn't find me because they're a bunch of useless twats." Ranma corrected. "Now what say we play a game? I call it ten second scramble."

Jasper pointed down at the vest with his gun and said, "I've got a grand that says that thing is fake."

Ranma came back with, "And I've got a grand that says you can't get out of this building in ten seconds." Ranma pulled out a metallic stick that she was half sitting on with her finger firmly pressed down on the button. "When my finger leaves this trigger, this place is blown this to shit. Shall we start?"

Before Jasper could answer one of his men got cold feet and yelled, "BOMB! Every one out!"

As if it were a well rehearsed school fire drill every one heard the message and were up and out at breakneck speeds. There were screams and yelling as everyone pushed their way to the doors and Ranma took a moment to watch it. "I guess the game's on." She looked back at Jasper, the only one in the booth who hadn't moved. "You ruined my life Jasper, and you forced a trusted friend to kill someone I dearly loved. Now it's my turn to ruin your life. One…"

When Ranma got to two, Jasper decided to make a run for it and when he ran, he ran fast. The man could twist and turn between people and practically leap over some ones shoulders if he wanted to, but his most redeeming factor was that he turned and actually considered shooting Ranma. By the time she said eight, everyone was downstairs and out of the large meeting room. She chuckled and said, "Happy new years!" and released the button.

A red light went off on a little device that Hikori was holding and right when he saw it he shouted. "Now!" All of Hikori's gunmen and rummies came out of hiding and surrounded the building all locked and loaded. Then a flood of hitmen, gangsters, mob men and thugs in general all burst out of the building and towards their cars, and that's when it happened. A deafening sound of two hundred guns filled the air and lit up the house with glares of orange flashing light. Many died before they could back up into the building again and as for the lucky ones that kept running and made it too their cars, found their luck running short as the started up their cars only to have them explode. Behind all of this was Hikori, the orchestrator of this symphony of destruction. He had his favorite assault rifle firing away and waving around much like a maestro would. When most of them were dead Hikori stopped to reload and as he did so he pulled the smoke out of his mouth and yelled, "I love my fucking job!"

Annoyingly enough Jasper was in the back of the crowd when the firing started up, so he managed to avoid it altogether, but now he knew for sure that the vest was a fake. He started running towards the stairs up to personally kill Ranma, but stopped when he heard a voice. It was male and talking into a radio. "You bastard! You told me it wouldn't explode!" There was a muffled sound in response and the voice cut it off. "No! I wasn't expecting an explosion at all! The graffiti and hot water bottles blowing up on me like that made me almost shit myself! I thought I was watching my organs fly around!" Then Ranma saw Jasper at the bottom of the stairs and said, "Call ya back later." He threw his miniature radio away and looked down at Jasper with a wide grin and open arms. "Buddy! You're alive!" Then his face grew dark and he lit one of the pipe bombs he had pulled off his vest. "Guess I'm gonna have to change that."

Jasper looked up that the man that he had been tracking for a while now and was confused. This person was wearing the exact same clothes that the chick was wearing, but was wet, had different colored hair and was about a foot taller. "If that was Soatome, then who the hell are you?"

The fuse burned down and gave it a gentle underhand toss. "The name's Ranma Soatome, but you already knew that."

-

-

(Apollo 440 - Stop The Rock: I'm trying to keep updates frequent I swear. Next chapter I'm gonna try and do something a little different. I wouldn't want Jasper to be 'just another guy' with a body bag on layaway. Till next time.)


	31. Whipping Post

Whipping Post

(Allman Brothers Band – Whipping Post)

It all started back in the early seventies. He was still young back then with only a mother he was planning on leaving soon seeing as his father died in the Vietnam War only just a few years back. He had two brothers who were both younger then him, Timothy the middle child and Louis the youngest. As far back as he could remember, Louis was always a little screwed up, but what Louis did at the age of twenty-three was almost unforgivable. Timothy on the other hand was a conniving knot head; he always had to bail Timothy out whatever master plan he cooked up time and time again. With this in mind Jasper, or as his birth certificate immortalized him as Henry Alexander Foster, was not close to his younger brothers in any real way, in fact to him they were his everlasting burden, but family nonetheless.

Jasper himself wasn't exactly a saint when it came to the big decisions in life, but what he establish from the beginning was that he was in charge and what ever he said was right became right and when the day came that he realized how much people feared him, he had an idea. He realized that he could make it to the top of the world and further if he wanted, and all he'd have to do was cover his ass at all times and climb on the broken backs of the people that did what he said. He was still young back then and never truly saw to whole picture of things that caused that horrible thing. You see, he was naïve once and only once in his life and being naïve was what got his mother killed.

He let things get out of hand and for maybe only for a moment he felt untouchable, he felt like a god and started playing with lives. Up until he was twenty-two he had never killed a man before, because he felt it unnecessary. He thought that once you kicked a dog it wouldn't bare fangs at you, but run yelping instead. He was right for the most part, until he ripped off a man by the nickname of Baxter 'Bloody Knuckles' Mackenzie. When Jasper first met that man he KNEW that he was just another meat sack with a wallet, and he KNEW that Baxter was not a smart man, but what he didn't know was to what bounds Baxter's anger had and what Jasper would discover is that the bounds were almost limitless.

It was it was drawn out and torturous if anything else. The first warning was when he got some mail at his apartment, or office as he referred to it, and in one of the envelopes was a small stack of pictures. His face grew red and hot as he looked at the voyeuristic photos of his own mother in the shower, and immediately set out on a mad search to find out who did it, but with the long list of people he'd managed to fuck with, he hadn't much clues other then to look at his most recent cons. Unfortunately it was too little too late and he found himself surrounded shortly after leaving his office and being on the receiving end of lead pipes, chains, and baseball bats.

Beaten and bloody he was thrown into the trunk of a GTO and taken away. He'd grown so used to being feared that the single emotion he lacked was fear itself and was therefore constantly living with a false sense of security. Even being beaten down like that and thrown feebly into a trunk didn't shake his confidence for some strange reason. Even now in a bloody fetal position, he felt stronger then them and knew this was just a return for something he had done and that he was going to walk out of this alive. Maybe a little sore, but alive and that's all that mattered. Then the atom bomb was dropped when the trunk lip opened. The air had the scent of a wheat field all around it and the white oak tree he caught a glance of just seemed all too familiar. Even the dirt road he was being dragged over had it's own brand of familiarity, but still he didn't want to believe he was back at that run down little Kansas shack with all the peeling paint and burnt grass out front that he called home.

Jasper could only remember the next bits in short wild flashes, punctuated with even shorter moments of agonizing terror. He remembered thinking that his little brother Louis was dead because of how much blood caked his face and hair. He also remembered seeing his mothers body, but with a different face. It wasn't the lazy blonde face that smoked a carton of cigarettes every day and still managed to look young. It wasn't the woman he'd seen everyday of his life up until that point. I was someone with sickly puffed out cheeks, with a bloody twisted face that must have been screaming in shear horror before it lost breath and died. After this things became even fuzzier, but the rush of something icy cold in his chest combined with a raw burning furry somewhere in his head would forever imprint itself in his mind. He became something that had, for a long time, tried to get out before. He became barbaric and enraged in a split moment bringing him to do something he never felt necessary up until now.

Baxter was not the first person Jasper killed, but the fifth. Baxter had some boys that did dirty work for him, much like Jasper had, and for them that day would have been better spent acting sick. The first murder was nothing short of savage. Since both his hands were held all he could do was lunge forward to the man in front of him with the only weapon he had. He buried his teeth around the goon's windpipe and with a disgustingly slow tearing, he pulled it out as the other three tried to subdue him. Jasper couldn't remember how he got free, nor could he remember how he killed the next man, but he did remember hearing Timothy screaming his lungs out as he watched. The next two were done in with a lead pipe that he couldn't remember picking up, but did remember seeing. Then there was Baxter, bearing his teeth like a dog that Jasper had never seen before. Baxter was in no way large like one would assume his name implied, but he was actually shorter then most. He acquired his name by having arms and legs that could wrap around you like tight metal cords that could cut the flesh and having a disturbing perversion for beating in anyone's skull with his bear fists. He was strong and put up a struggle, but a lead pipe made him go to the ground like anyone else and then Jasper did it.

He wrapped his fingers around the exposed throat just beneath the pork chop sideburns and pushed his thumbs down cutting off the precious air Baxter needed. Baxter fought back but not for long. Soon his fists stopped swinging and he tried feebly to pull the hands clasped around his neck free. His mouth flew open and his tongue waved as if trying dearly to remember the taste of the sweet air. Baxter's final attempt was to pull Jasper's hair and maybe swing him off, but even as a handful of hair ripped away from Jasper's skull he just kept choking the life out of him, until the eyes went wide, glassy and vacant.

When Jasper could focus his eyes again he found himself driving away from a blood splattered home with his brothers in the car with him. He didn't have a clue where he was going, and he couldn't remember for the life of him how he got this car, but in the end it didn't matter because he started thinking. The drive was long, silent, and personally uncomfortable. Every one seemed to try and stay away from each other as much as possible, but when you're all three feet away from each other, it's just hard. Jasper checked in the mirror to see Louis in the back, but his own face took his breath away. His face was the reason there was such silence in the car. There was something behind it all and it wasn't because of the blood, nor the injuries, and not even the little pieces of someone else's flesh stuck around his lips. He was smiling something wicked and his eyes had a laid back look inside of them like he'd just done the greatest deed. He was painted red like the devil and the devil's work he'd just done. His mother was dead for Christ sake, but for some reason she was nothing more then a stepping-stone on the road. Something easily overlooked. And that's when it hit him. There was something cosmically wrong with him, as well as the entire world.

In the following years Jasper became the man who was most notorious for his cruelty. He had a chance to travel around and collect his thoughts while looking after a couple of brothers he hated. Jasper had come to some realizations that made his brothers fear him. One of these was when he was thinking about a good old fashion Texas execution. He started to ponder what the death penalty was exactly and it didn't take him long to figure it out. It's just a legalized murder. It's something a bunch of people agrees on, then the judge gives a verdict and then the state snuffs him out. It's utterly inexcusable, it's horrible, it's man acting as god dictating lives, but then there was the other side of the coin. Some guys just deserve to burn. It's the ultimate justice taking away another man's life and if the some crusty old fuck in a silly robe is allowed to point his finger of blame then why the hell not him? This was Jasper's rationale.

In four years Jasper had managed to raise a couple of corrupt kids and start a small and illegal gambling gig. It was exciting for the first few months but all the novelty had grown thin quickly and it wasn't long until he needed something new to occupy his mind. He could have gotten around to finally visiting his mothers grave, but after four years of not giving a damn it was hard to fake the effort and to top it off both Timothy and Louis seemed to forget who that person was as well. Timothy had become old enough to start helping Jasper out with a few things, so neither of them got the chance to pay much attention to Louis who'd taken to strange and almost occult hobbies, but that'll serve a purpose later.

Now one day Jasper was looking out his window of his apartment and decided to take notice of someone that had always been there. There was an old woman that did one thing with her day every day. She sat in front of the building, pretended to be sick, and asked anyone that walked by if they could go to the store and buy her smokes. Jasper watched this go on for a week straight every time he had a chance to look out the window and the more he watched, the angrier he became. She lived the most useless and pitiful existence anyone could hope to accomplish. She sat on the side of the goddamn road for fourteen hours a day and humiliated herself for smokes and the only reason she did it was because she was a big fat lazy bitch with no goddamn ambition in life. All day long she'd leach off of anyone that happened to walk by and pretend to look like a poor crippled woman that didn't get a whopping cheque from the government at the end month. She was the type of person that had a job for a week and decided to go on disability leave because she dropped a book on her foot and has been milking the injury ever since. Or maybe some doctor told her she had a learning disorder that forced her to be lazy and took away all of the vitality in her to get up and do something for a change. This was the excuse she'd hid behind all her life to justify her worthless existence.

On a Saturday morning, Jasper made a decision that he would never regret. He walked outside, crossed the street and put a loaded gun against her head. When all she did was look at him and quiver with fear he asked her a question. "Aren't you going to fight me? Aren't you going to resist me at all?" She made a gesture that came from instinct that said she wouldn't do anything to save her life. She just shook her head and prayed to god he'd lose interest and go away, but for someone like her he didn't look away and he didn't lose interest. Instead he just grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground and started kicking the living piss out of her. The whole reason he was doing this was because he came to another realization. He was just as infinitely unless as her. All he did all day was sit around his apartment, empty a few slot machines, and go leach money off of anyone that happened to be passing by. He blamed everything on the fact that someone had killed a mother he'd lost interest in and he blamed a couple of brothers he didn't much care about for dragging him down and turning him into a leech firmly attached to the asshole of humanity and he did this for about fourteen hours a day. In a sense he'd just thrown someone just like him to the ground and started kicking her in the face.

The only thing from the incident that made sense was Timothy pulling Jasper off the old lady and a day later having the headline of the newspaper screamed to him by Timothy as he packed all their suitcases. The last thing he heard about the woman was that she was in a coma for almost a week and died in hospital from some sort of bleeding of the brain or something to that extent. He didn't really care, but that something he came to realize about himself he did care about. There wasn't going to be any more nickel and dime operations, it was just going to be big time shit with the real coin rolling in. He needed a start and he figured that Chicago was a good place to find it.

The drive was worth it almost instantly with a few guys in with the mafia finding him right away and taking him to a small time crime boss that trading in human cargo. Right away Jasper knew that this boss was still fresh like him, but showed all the potential in the world. He was organized, ruthless, and fair to those he worked with. His name was Bugsy Malone. Bugsy needed a real cutthroat like Jasper to pull a few jobs for him from time to time and it earned him money. Almost every Thursday or Friday night, Jasper would get a call on his huge clunky cell phone and a voice would say, "Hank, I got a little job for you." And the next day there would be a headline or a subcategory in the morning paper about some brutal murder of a man or woman suspected to be connected to one crime ring or another. He never left any witnesses, always took his shell casings or bloody knife and burnt all the evidence. Then someone would come by his place the next day and hand him an envelope with three grand in cash inside. Jasper considered this for a while and it defiantly beat working at a burger joint.

It was too bad the jobs didn't last longer, but Bugsy moved himself to Liberty City and quickly became a big shot while Jasper, or Henry Foster as he was still known, stayed behind and continued to erode with the city. He was back to nickel and dime jobs and he'd killed so many people that pretty much everyone was pissed off at him, but within six months of Bugsy leaving, Henry Foster had an idea. A business only really needs someone to have an idea and to take charge. Well he had an idea, but now the issue of a tainted name stood before him with a stupidly simple solution. He changed his and his brother's names to Garino and so the idea was set in motion.

Jasper Garino started as the boss and stayed as the boss of his organization. He started dealing in everything the mafia did and more. He got into the drug trade, murder, politics, slavery, child pornography; you name it he had something for every last filthy degenerate motherfucker crawling through the gutter for their next fix of whatever sick disgusting shit that got them off and through the day. Jasper sat in the center of this state of human decay and conducted it using fear as his medium and a complete disregard for any one other then himself. So much so that he eventually pushed his brothers away and set them up with work so as not to get in his way. If he had been a good brother though, he would have noticed Louis strange behavior and would have never let him go on his own.

In his youth and all the way into the nineties, Louis had a particular liking for patterns of the occult and an absurd amount of fondness for domination. In Louis's world he was a god below his brother Jasper and this megalomania is what lead to all of the rape and dodgy murder cases. Later on Jasper suspected that his brother was meeting with an urban legend from Texas named Chuck Palmer, and was proven right upon an uncomfortable introduction. Jasper was fine with the encounter, but Chuck Palmer was scared stiff of Jasper the moment he locked eyes with him. Those yellow eyes pierced into him and it felt like Jasper was closely examining a berating Chuck's naked body from every fathomable angle. It was always Jasper's advantage to be able to look at someone like nothing more then a piece of meat, while keeping an air of sanity around him that was impossible to tell if it was true or false. It's an amazing ability to look at a chainsaw murderer and make him flinch and force him to break eye contact first.

Years passed and as time went on bellbottoms and pork chop sideburns went out of style only to be replaced with loud clothing and synthesized music. The eighties proved to be a world devoted to ultimate party drug known as cocaine and business boomed, especially after he took over the Vercetti Empire in Vice City. It was one of the few things he didn't have to kill anyone over and in truth it was his useless brother Timothy that came up with an idea to con Vercetti out of his money, but to still let him walk off with a handsome sum. Other then that the entirety of the eighties and most of the nineties went by in a fast blur of sifting though sheer bullshit. Problems fired from left right and center and his job consisted of answering as many questions as he could. He eventually worked out that he was asked about two and half thousand questions a day and if he answered about one and a half thousand right then he would have a relatively smooth day.

Then one day he got a call. He'd received the best news he'd ever received in his career of being mean sonovabitch. Louis was dead and he couldn't have been happier. Finally the little fucking perverted leach was dead, the court cases were all going to close, and finally that asshole wouldn't call him anymore. Jasper cracked a long overdue smile, but knew that this couldn't go unpunished. Sure he was happy about Louis's painful and disfiguring death, but someone had now stepped on his toes and when someone did that, someone usually died. It was such a nice change that for once someone didn't know who he was fucking with and now Jasper could have his fun with eroding the very soul and being of that person for as long as he pleased. It was such a nice way to make people remember just why challenging him was so taboo. However now as it seems, that very person who stepped on his toes got around to surviving for a lot longer then anyone else had before. Then almost a year later the same guy killed his other brother Timothy. This had become serious.

Things were falling apart over in Japan, so he decided to take a closer look at what was over there and then he remembered it all. To get both Bugsy and Jerry out of Liberty City he'd exported them there along with all the other people that annoyed him. He had thought that throwing all of his enemies on one huge spit of land was going to be good enough, however he didn't expect them to all get together and have hoopla on his industry. Quickly he thought up a plan. Since everyone over in Japan was so good at killing everyone he sent over there, then why not get all of the guys he really hated, over there and in a big room. He made it look like a big old happy convention for a bunch of gangsters that knew he wouldn't possibly try to pull anything funny while they were all there. All he had to do was show up and show them trust and as soon as he got word that the Nerima wrecking crew was arriving, he'd split and head back to Liberty City. The only problem was that he underestimated how well they worked. He figured that they'd come along blow shit up, and while they were out he could get his boys to kill Bugsy and make off with all of the cash in the basement. Then everyone just up an died on him and now that Ranma guy, or girl he wasn't sure anymore, had just performed one of the most insanely stupid stunts he'd ever seen, had everyone else killed in the process and had gotten as far as flinging pipe bombs at him with an air of mirth in his drugged induced giggling. It was quickly turning out to be the worst day he'd ever had.

Another nearly deafening blast followed by a hail of nails went off close by Jasper's ear and he was starting to get a little angry. He brushed a bit of the dust off his head and put a finger in his ear as if to clear it. "So, what? Do you have a sister I've never heard about, or are you actually one of them homosexuals like that Jerry guy?" He leaned out from behind a large stone bust now fully covered in nails and missing chunks and started firing in Ranma's direction.

Ranma got down low as the bullets whizzed by and said, "You're being awfully friendly. I thought you'd be a lot more pissed at me over your casino and me killing brothers and all." Ranma fired his own weapon and took a few more pieces out of the bust. "Seriously, you're taking it well."

"To show emotion I have to first care that you did it." Jasper said as he peeked an eye around the corner of the stonework. "If it really concerned me I would have had you killed right away." Jasper took aim silently but didn't fire.

"Oh? And how'd you manage that? Lots of guys have had a good crack at it, but so far that Palmer guy I hacked to pieces has been the closest so far AND he had to get me while I wasn't looking." He added almost smugly.

Jasper's gun followed Ranma's voice and he kept waiting for the moment Ranma's head stuck up a little. "For you I'd make it damn near poetic. Shakespeare style if you will and it would be done in one of two ways."

"Oh?" Ranma was interested so when he fired his gun he kept his sights wide. "How's that?"

Jasper caught a hand sticking out of the railing and almost took it off with a single bullet. "If you were just an average Joe I have you poisoned, and if you were an emperor I'd have a bunch of your closest advisors stab you in the stomach about twenty times."

Ranma laughed as he cradled the hand that a bullet grazed. "Am I safe to assume you've got someone I know under your thumb."

"Did I spill something?" Jasper said in a mock arrogance. "This'll knock your tits off, but almost everyone is under my thumb, and those who aren't usually don't live that long." Quietly he pulled out a small Swiss army knife with a miniature compass built into it and then pulled a small slick radio out of his inside coat and whispered, "West wall, second floor. Move fast."

"I'm still living, aren't I?" It sounded cliché and it was after he said it that he knew that the statement was about as sub par as you could get at the retort game.

"That's because you've been under my thumb you idiot." Jasper watched as Ranma stood up quick with another pipe bomb in hand and as he threw it Jasper's hands went into overdrive with deadly aim. It was lucky for Ranma that the rug he stood on wasn't stable enough to stay put on his rapid movements or else the bullet would have passed into his chest and not his shoulder.

Ranma let out a yell, but Jasper was exposed too long for his own good and Ranma paid him back in turn with some wicked fast desperado gun slinging. "You shot me you fuck!"

Jasper took off his coat, pulled off the long thin black tie around his neck and tied it tightly around his own wound with an astonishing speed that said he'd done this a few times already. "Really? I didn't notice. I'll make sure to kill you with the next shot though."

Ranma was beginning to think the higher ground was putting him at a disadvantage with being a bit pinned down and all, but then again Jasper wasn't doing any better himself, and then he heard something. Both of them went quiet as they listened for it. Then Ranma said, "Shit! Cops!" The sound of a helicopter came nearer and nearer to the building, and Ranma began to panic. "How about we finish this up quick?"

Jasper's voice came back calm. "Nah, that ain't the cops. That's just my ride." As Ranma risked a look over the ledge he saw that Jasper was out in the open again and he hadn't been silent because he was listening for the chopper, but because he was busy attaching a few new parts to his 9mm. With quick and easy snap-on pieces the 9mm pistol now had an extended stock, a bigger custom clip size, and a nice new burst feature. A spill of three rapid shots came out with each squeeze of the trigger, and the new thirty round clip said he could fire it ten times without reloading, but the aim wasn't to hit Ranma, it was to keep him pinned down while the helicopter came around to the west side of the building and start firing at the second floor with the mounted minigun.

The door on the side of the black chopper slid open revealing a man in commando gear, pivoting the gun around with a thumb over a button. The front-end pipe work started rotating with the sound of a small motor propelling it and moments later it spat fire. A deafening cry of bullets rained down into the area where Ranma was huddled up and for a few moments all he heard was the wail of the gun and only felt the shards of glass and bit of debris pelt him relentlessly. It may have been a few seconds or many hours, but eventually it stopped and it took Ranma a few moments to rake up the nerve to look around him. There wasn't anything around him that didn't have at least a few deep dark holes in it and after a few more moments he realized that this did not exempt him. Looking down he finally figured out that the reason he couldn't feel his leg was because a heavy piece of something had pinned it to the floor and had cut off most of the blood flow, but there they were, one bloody hole on the upper thigh and another just below the knee. Then the nerves in his leg finally found a way to send a signal to the brain. "ARRRGH!" No matter how many times it happens, getting shot is always unexpected and very painful.

The clatter of Jasper's footsteps went further and further away as Ranma writhed in pain and all he could do was lay there without much choice as to do. However looking around wildly in his slightly comatose state he saw the miniature radio he'd thrown, it was his link to Hikori and he reached out for it. He stretched his arm as far as it could go and eventually he got the tips of his fingers to bring it to him. "Hikori you there?"

An annoyed voice came through from the other end and high tone shots flowed through with it. "I'm a little busy out here!"

"He's getting' away, and my leg is fucked!"

"I guessed as much, you know with the chopper and deluge Jasper's little private army coming in around us from all corners. Get up there and kill the bastard!"

Ranma looked at the small radio like is was a small smelly offensive object for a few moments and said. "I have been shot in the leg twice! I have a mountain of rubble on top of me! And I have the biggest caffeine buzz I've ever had in my life! I cannot chase him at this given moment! Can't you guys shoot the chopper where you're from?"

"I'm a good shot, but not that good. Fuck it, it's taking off."

Ranma was about to smash the radio, but thought better of it. "Which way is it heading?"

"East."

"Ok…" Then Ranma thought for a moment as he watched the blood pour out of his leg. "Which way's east?"

"I'm guessing the airport." Hikori said wisely.

"Well get going then!"

"YOU get going! I'd like to see you just hop in a car out here and bugger off while a thousand bullets a second are flying around."

The noisy whirling sound of the chopper started to fade away somewhere to Ranma's back and he started pushing as much junk off of himself as he could. It was a full minute of radio silence until an unexpected yet familiar voice came on. "I see im' comin'."

Ranma stopped almost instantly and picked up the radio. "Jerry! You're alive. Where the hell are ya?"

Over the radio transmission the sound of a chopper coming in close to Jerry was faint but picking up volume. "On the roof of the casino. Just leave everything to me." She said it slowly with a hint of self-gratification in her voice.

"Hurry up with that thing ya useless pukes!" Two men hurried through the roof entrance both carrying one large green on either side. They dropped it as her feet and she waved them away. "Now get the hell out of here. I've got a bone to pick with a certain asshole." They saluted her and ran off while she kneeled down and opened the case with a smile. She was red with her own blood and probably many others, her hair was a mess, her suit badly torn and now she had a rocket launcher hiked onto her shoulder. She could have easily rendered Rambo permanently impudent with a single dangerous glance.

She took careful aim as it came closer and closer from below the building. It hadn't seen her yet, but the pilot would see her soon enough. Her eyes started to blur and the rocket launcher started feeling kind of heavy. She could feel herself growing cold and she knew without looking in a mirror that her skin had become deathly pale. The deep dark gunshot wound in her chest still hadn't been tended to and too much blood had left her body. Her entire body wavered as she focused every last ounce of strength to stay standing and aim.

The chopper flew up from below to building to go over it and the pilot saw her standing there with a wild smile and holding something very dangerous. The pilot froze and didn't know what else to do then go forward and hopefully miss the shot, but Jerry pushed the button just as Jasper ran up front and turned the control stick, forcing the helicopter to turn swiftly in the air. It was too little too late and the rocket hit the tail sending the chopper spinning wilding in the air like a flaming frisbee, and right towards Jerry, who didn't move, but fell to her knees and watched it come at her with a broad smile of self satisfaction spread across her lips.

-

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(Allman Brothers Band – Whipping Post: You know, going to film school is actually a lot harder then it sounds. Twenty-six hour days, a three page report every three days, storyboarding, working with a bunch of inexperienced asshole actors. This takes time out of my writing and so does the fact that I live very close to a beach and it being summer. With this said, I'll update the goddamn story when I'm good and ready, so until then rock on and party hard!)


	32. Mean Machine

Mean Machine

(Sugar Ray – Mean Machine)

It's hard to look at anything else when flaming chopper is coming at you and you've pretty much accepted death. However the sense of extreme vertigo still has the power to draw you towards it even if it's only slightly. Three and a half hairs on the top of Jerry's head fell victim to the burning twisting wreckage as it passed over her by fragmented millimeters. It crashed and slid along the roof in a scraping squeal as all of the metal bent and contorted in ways it was never meant to and in truth Jerry still hadn't quite grasped the fact that it had missed and she was alive.

It took a long, well earned look over her shoulder to see the smoldering wreckage behind her and after a moment she started feeling really pleased with herself again. The smile, though it was faint, came back across her face and it was time for a victory cigarette. She pulled the pack out of her signature three-button men's sports jacket, now tattered far beyond repair and lit a match for the sweet taste of tobacco to hit her lungs. It was relief beyond words and the world seemed to feel slightly better. She tossed the match and took in another deep breath, but then something funny happened. The match she threw landed only a few feet to her right, but when it touched the ground a thin trail of flame ignited. Her eyes followed the shooting flamed to where they lead to, which just so happened to be the fuel tank that was miraculously only slightly scathed in the crash, and all of a sudden she started to wish with that she'd never started smoking all those years ago.

A hot and heavy blast lifted her body away from its spot on the ground and soon she saw the edge of the building coming closer and closer to her. An infinite number of thoughts went through her head, but the only on she heard said that her luck had finally run out and that it was time to fall a very long way down. For a brief moment it didn't matter, her job was done and her part was over, there was no room left for her in this town, but then she saw it, her reason to live. She saw something she hadn't thought possible. A pair of hands clasped firmly on the edge of the two-foot tall cement railing that went around the entire roof. Then she saw those familiar yellow eyes she'd seen long ago drawing closer to her and looking though her. A wave of sudden realization rushed through her the instant she saw him. He had turned the chopper to jump onto the building while Jerry had fired the rocket. He just under jumped it.

She could never explain how it happened, nor could she recollect ever thinking about doing it, but with a single outstretched hand she'd caught onto the edge of the building just as Jasper had and it was by the tips of her fingers that she held on for dear life. Her velocity swung her back against the hard wall like a pendulum and for a moment it felt as though her arm was going to rip clean from its socket. The aching pain was everywhere in her body and it came from no particular source. A quick glance down showed her the city streets far below filling up with stopped cars and onlookers and for a brief moment it felt like it would just be easier to let go and give them all a show, but then she looked over at Jasper who was only a few feet away looking slightly surprised, but pulling himself up nonetheless. She had no time to die just yet; she had a job to do.

Bugsy was on the run now, taking his daughter as far away from the carnage as he could. He was heading for the hills to a place Ranma had told him about, an abandoned old farmhouse that once belonged to Old Maggie. It had become something of a flophouse for drug attics, but nothing a little firepower couldn't handle, although it being up in the middle of the woods he felt afraid that somebody might follow him, so he had a couple people go up and make sure it was safe before he went. He was told everything was fine and about fifteen minutes later he was there, up in the hills overlooking the city. He saw some smoke coming up from about where the Casino was, but he knew Jerry had stayed behind so it could have been either a good or bad thing.

About half an hour passed and Bugsy got Marci into bed and stood outside her door out of some subconscious paranoia. Eventually he calmed himself down and went into the room beside hers to turn on a small radio he had. The line was jammed with a confused mish-mash of jumbled words going either way to nondescript people. Something about a chopper going down… Something about Ranma running somewhere… And something about Jerry being dead or close to it. The morning was going to be hell that was for sure, but what it didn't tell him was if Jasper was dead or not. There was confusion because so many irate gangs were running around shooting the place up and by the sounds of it Bugsy had gotten out just in time, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. There was something going on and he needed answers, so he pulled out his phone and called Nabiki. What she told him made him go very quiet for a long while.

Jasper got up onto the roof first and Jerry wasn't far behind him. It seemed to be nothing more then a stitch in his side to Jasper after the damn near death experience and he shook it off with an inhumane amount of cool. So cool that he straightened his jacket gave it a quick brush and walked over to Jerry to kick her in the face as she kneeled there breathing hard. For a moment her body went limp and she fell backwards wondering why the hell she bothered to climb back up in the first place. Then she saw the smirk on his face and he said something that you just don't say to Jerry. "You're just a limp wrist little faggot aren't ya?"

A fist that felt like it belonged to Andre The Giant clocked him across the jaw and knocked the inhumane cool right out of him. Jerry went at him with animal instinct and no matter how fast he swung he couldn't hit her. She ducked under his arm and gave him a couple of heavy fits to the gut that damn near lifted him off the ground. Eventually Jasper put up his arms in hopes to block anything that came at his face, but even as he did so the limp wrist little faggot was finding every opening to strike until finally Jasper couldn't even think about how Jerry was doing it. He had a large cut just above his eye from one of Jerry's strikes that just grazed him and then he did the only think he could think of. He left himself open and took hits that felt like two hundred pound bullets being dispensed from an Uzi and grabbed the back of her head and brought his knee back for the full swing.

A brief moment passed in Jerry's life where she couldn't for the life of her remember when her piano lessons started. Then it dawned on her that she had neither taken piano lessons before, nor did she at any point sign up for piano lessons. Then her eyes opened and saw Jasper standing over her and pulling something out of his coat. It was a little black thing with a button on top and two menacing teeth on the front. He looked at her with an all-serious expression and said, "You should really stay down." And then shoved the little black thing into her stomach. Her entire body tightened and quivered and electricity scorched her nerves and drove itself right of up spine and into her pounding head.

A year of raw pain seemed to pass by in an instant and she was left there lying looking up at the night sky with her tongue feeling fuzzy. It took a few moments to remember how to use her lungs and when she did she said, "I'm gonna kick yer ass…" in a slurred, wavy speech. The rebuttal was a kick to the face and a broken nose.

Jasper looked down at Jerry who seemed to absolutely refuse to close her eyes, but she wasn't getting up any time soon so he figured he's start moving before anyone else came. Then he turned around, not because that was the direction of his escape, but because there was the screech of metal and bolts bending and twisting apart from where the chopper when down. There was a man with a large and apparent gunshot wound in his back ripping the mounted minigun out of the burning wreckage with his bare hands. As the man turned around the nose of the lengthy weapon dragged forebodingly along the cement roof with a piercing screech until his eyes locked with Jasper's. He was wearing a bandana and it looked like he'd been through hell and back a few times over. Ryouga blinked almost absently and asked, "You're Jasper aren't you…?" In seconds Jasper dove behind a large metallic water tower as the horrible sound of the minigun's motor started up to start spinning the revolving barrel. Ryouga screamed, "You ruined my life!" And the noise of vengeful thunder roared with each explosion of every chamber.

Running was his only option and in Ryouga's hysteria there were still escapes routs open. The gunfire went quiet for a few seconds and he heard Ryouga's heavy breathing and dragging feet coming towards the left side of the water tower and therefore away from the door leading down. Jasper was about to make a break for it when a heavy jingle of something sounding like a chain being moved caught his ear. Jasper ventured a peak around the corner quickly and saw that Ryouga had tangled himself up a little with the belt of bullets feeding into the gun. He was heading back to the wreckage a little disorientated, but with the gun still pointed where Jasper was hiding. In less then a second Ryouga's hand punched into the wreckage and came back out holding a large steel ammo case that held all the bullets for the minigun.

Seeing this as his only chance, Jasper made a mad dash for the door and his heart almost skipped a beat as he heard the motor starting up again, but the bullets flew and he had to take cover again although this time he had his back pressed up against the concrete wall with the doorway only about a foot away around the corner. This time Ryouga didn't let go of the trigger and started a slow jog towards the where Jasper was while screaming. Both the noise from Ryouga's mouth and the thoughts in Jasper's head were downed out over the constant blasts of the minigun and the loud shrieks of wild bullets ricocheting. As Ryouga rounded the corner with bullets flying, the most amazing thing happened. Jasper had leaned down, gotten under the spray of bullets, and had connected his taser with the back of Ryouga's leg. It was pure shock that got Ryouga to stop and he'd almost willed himself to turn around, but Jasper had spun behind him, grabbed his ankles and given him a rough yank.

Ryouga's chin smacked the ground with a sharp crack and chipped a tooth right in half. Jasper ran around the corner and down the stairs before Ryouga could get up, but when he finally did he fired it off futilely in hopes that Jasper had stayed around for a few extra seconds. He finally got himself to a full standing position again and was about to go after him, but when he stood up he saw over the edge of the building and down into the street. There were no civilians left, but with roadblocks and something huge that was painted green, with heavy treads and long protruding cannon on the front. As soon as he realized what it was, he also realized that it had just finished pointing at him. "Oh, shit…" The moment he turned around and ran something from below made an echoing boom and a quarter second later Ryouga flew through the air and turned enough to see the doorway turn to a pile of rubble and in another quarter second he'd landed on the other side of the roof, fairly close to Jerry tangled in a mess of loose bullets from the ammo box and his own blood from the bits of debris that managed to cut him.

Skipping up to six steps at a time, Jasper bolted down the stairs and started to notice that no one was left in the building. Well, he couldn't tell for sure, but there were no people in the stairwell to block his path and the large explosion overhead meant that the military was coming in to see what was going on. Getting to the bottom was the easy part and his escape would be easy as well, he'd just scream bloody murder and talk of bandana wearing psycho on the roof. He pulled the personal radio out of his inner coat pocket and spoke into it. "Rollins, get my plane ready I'll meet you at the airport in about fifteen minutes." Taking off was going to be the hard part, but it was nothing new to him.

"He's heading towards the airport? How do you know?" Bugsy was no face to face with Nabiki as she'd agreed to come to the farmhouse for safety.

"How else would he get out of here? Besides that's the direction he's going in. We're going to try and head him off on our side, they're just having trouble with all of the street thugs going berserk." Nabiki sat down in an old comfy chair and rubbed her eyes. "We're going to give Ranma as much backup as we can, but it's difficult if he's not allowed to see us."

Bugsy nodded, "I know what you mean…"

There was a knock at the door a few rooms over and Nabiki got up. "Oh thank god. That take out's here."

He watched her walk off and said, "You know the whole point in having a secret hideout is so that it's secret."

She waved him off and said, "I'm sure the takeout boy wasn't followed, and I'm pretty sure even I could take him." She went and answered the door while Bugsy took his own seat and rubbed his head in agitation. Nabiki's muffled voice could be heard, but then the sound of glass breaking was heard, then a scream, and then the mad rush of footsteps up the stairs with someone or something dragging behind them. Bugsy was up and running on the scream and he got to the foot of the stairs when he heard the door to his daughter's room being kicked in followed by her scream. Like any father would he ran up the stairs with a gun drawn, but not forward in case either she or Nabiki were held hostage.

The invader had swung the door closed behind him and Bugsy was forced to burst through it, but when he did his little girl screamed, "Daddy, no!"

Bugsy saw a familiar face and lower down the owner of it was holding something with a huge barrel. All Bugsy got to say was, "Why?" then a shot was fired and something hit him in the stomach kneeling him over and forced to look at the unconscious Nabiki on the ground. His breath was hard to find and his eyes looked up as the barrel pressed against his head. Marci screamed as the gun fired again sending her father to fall backwards with a heavy thump against the hardwood floor and lay completely still.

Jasper got to the ground floor and rushed out with his jacket over his head screaming the bloody murder he'd thought up. Two soldiers ran up to him and guided him out to where they thought safe and treated him like an evacuee. He ended up bickering with them, saying that he wanted to go home, but they wanted him to be checked out by the ambulance guys. Then, if you use the term loosely, Ryouga saved him some trouble.

The guy had managed to shake off most of the explosion he was part of, but he didn't know how long he was out for. On a whim he looked over the edge closest to him and saw Jasper down below arguing with the soldiers and police. He looked back and saw Jerry lying there wide eyed with a smoke standing straight up from her lips. He crawled over to her and asked dumbly, "You ok?"

Jerry turned her head and stared at him for a few seconds, then at the gun he was dragging around. She looked back up into the sky and said, "Well, go kill him. I sure can't."

Ryouga looked at her wounds and said, "But… You need… uh… something."

Jerry took a puff of air and spat the cigarette out of her mouth and tilted her head slightly enough to tell him to come closer. He did and turned his head slightly so he could hear what she was about to say, but then she put her hand on the back of his head and brought him in for a very passionate and very wet kiss. "You know kid-"

"You stuck you tongue in my mouth…"

"-ya may be an idiot, a loser, a back stabber, a weakling, and even an emotional wreck,-."

"You're a dude though…"

"-but you know what? At least you're cute."

"I feel so dirty…"

Jerry let out a cough and continued, "I want you to kill that son of a bitch. Every hole you put in him I'll personally fist fuck I promise you that. Now get going…"

With an expression of emotional confusion, Ryouga stepped back and saw Jasper again. His blood started boiling and he saw Jasper hop onto a motorcycle and hit the kick-start. With the doorway smashed to pieces and Jasper about to leave, Ryouga did the only think he could think of and took a leap of faith. About mid way down Ryouga pointed the barrel at Jasper and pulled the trigger. Everyone looked up as they heard the ominous sound of a motor spinning, to see a man flying off a building getting ready to fire. Everyone ducked or got down in some way, but Jasper didn't flinch, even as his mirror got shot off, he just pulled the throttle, spun the back wheel and went.

He landed feet first on the roof of a car compressing it down right in the middle. The rippled metal curved around his feet and in the end he landed with his knees only slightly bent. Like a machine he rushed down the road after him, but knew he'd never be able to keep up. Ryouga prayed for range, but his aim sucked. Then out of the blue he heard the roar of a V8 engine coming up from behind him. A pair of headlights broke the barrier and came skidding in between all the soldiers and right towards him. He didn't have time to jump and gun plus accessories didn't help him at all. Instead he just put up his arms and closed his eyes.

Screeching tires stopped just in front of him and after a moment Ryouga looked. It was a Saber Turbo parked sideways in the street, but that wasn't it, there was someone behind him on a very fast dirt bike. The thing went down on its side and Ranma slid onto the other side of the Saber. Then as if on cue, Ranma pulled Ryouga down as a hail of gunfire came from the soldiers. The bullets deflected off the armored vehicle and then the passenger side door opened to revile Uri, the driver. "Think it is lucky I find car, no?"

Ranma ignored him and started shaking Ryouga. "Where the fuck is he? Where's Jasper? Why isn't he dead?"

Ryouga just pointed feebly and said, "He went that way!"

Without missing a beat Ranma pointed at Uri and said, "You be our shield. This guy'll take out the chopper."

"Okey-dokie!" Uri saluted and closed the door.

Ranma got the bike back up, kick started it and told Ryouga to get on the back, but Ryouga had to ask. "What chopper?"

"The one chasing us! Get the fuck on and be my shooter or stay behind and get shot!" In a panic at Ranma's words and forgetting all grudges he leaped onto the back of the bike, sat backwards with the gun towards the sky and seconds later saw the chopper from between the buildings.

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(Sugar Ray – Mean Machine : I was shocked, like monocle popping off my face, when a few people thought that was Jasper dying in the last chapter. You think I would screw you guys out of an epic as freaking hell ending? I have spent over a year writing this bullshit! You WILL receive an epic ending, or my name isn't Hank! Other then that thank you for reading, XOXOXOXO and until next update please remember to party hard.)


	33. Twitch

Twitch

(Bif Naked – Twitch)

"You know, just for the record, I don't blame you in any way, I should have known better then to ask you of all people 'which way did he go?'"

Ryouga looked dumbly up at the chopper trying to take aim at them with the mounted machine gun on the nose. "I didn't mean to… But I thought for sure he went this way…"

If one were to take a look at a topographic view of the immediate city, one would notice that a perfectly safe man on a motorcycle was going down one road and that two unsafe men on a motor cycle followed by a bullet proof car and a helicopter were going in almost the opposite direction. If one were to look at it like a clock face with an hour hand being Jasper and the minute hand being Ranma n' crew then the time would look to be about 5:53.

Ranma reached back with an open hand and said, "The GPS, give it here." Ryouga immediately pulled at the strap on his wrist with his teeth and shook the loose display into Ranma hand without a word. Even though he was holding a rather large weapon the queasy fact remained that he had his back to someone that wanted him dead. Ryouga's mind started to wander at a dangerous time, but the idea of blood on his hands was becoming heavy on him. He thought of Sheela and how she came at him that hateful look and loaded gun. He had thought about it so hard for the first little while, but the nightmares haunted him everyday. He had thought about what happened only a few hours ago, when Ranma beat him even though he was so weak. The guy that wanted him dead had not only given him a second chance, but also saved Ukyo when he couldn't and he had no idea how to take it. A nudge to his sore ribs brought him back to reality, "Hey, keep that gun pointed up at them, it's the only thing making them hold their fire."

Ryouga shook his head and brought his slowly dissenting weapon back up and directed at the whirly. For some reason it was this moment that he felt it come to him, the words he had said over and over, but this time they seemed different, they felt more whole with unknown understanding. "I'm sorry… I really fucked things up didn't I?" He didn't know why he asked it, but how he spoke the words; they were no longer full of self-pity or with a plea of forgiveness, but on even ground, man to man.

A long silence sat present between them with only the sounds of engines running and blades spinning, but Ranma did say something. "A few days ago I saw a girl that Akane used to hang out with at school. She was all huddled up against a dumpster covered in rags with enough heroine holes in her to be classified as a flute. It ain't right man, this entire city is fucked up because we all stopped caring. Everyone was too afraid to speak up and even now most of everyone is out hoping things will be better when they get back. It's sick man, but you know what? Tonight there's something bigger then you or me, or even Sheela for that matter… Even if we're both pretending, and even if one of us dies… We have to take this city back and get those fuckers out of here, because I don't remember Akane's friend doing anything to deserve that. I don't remember anyone doing anything to deserve that… You know what I mean?"

The two never looked at one another, but they both had the same look. A look of shame, with their eyes down and spines hunched over. "Yeah, I know what you mean…"

Ranma turned the motorcycle up on a highway ramp that brought them heading the opposite direction and towards the airport. "We've got some ground to make up, but I know we'll make it in time."

Ryouga watched Uri follow behind them and asked, "How do you know?"

He just smiled as he brought the thing up to full speed, "Because we always do. We've just got to lose this chopper first."

The chopper leaned back to halt itself and started to lower down closer to the highway. Ryouga watched the thing come and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm sick if constantly running from everyone." Before Ranma could ask, Ryouga had pushed himself off the seat into a back flip and landed on the hood of the Saber. Uri swerved in surprise a couple times but Ryouga managed to stay on and knock on the window. Uri rolled it down and heard, "Hey you. Take me right under that thing!"

"I don't want thing falling on my head ok?"

"Just do it! Here take this." Ryouga shoved the minigun through the window and dropped the heavy hunk of metal into Uri's lap and most of the passenger seat.

"I can no feel legs! Wait, what you doing without gun?" His thick Russian voice was ignored and Ryouga positioned himself on top of the roof getting ready to lung at the chopper. Uri started swearing in his native language with a bit of broken words in many other languages. "Ignorant kid throwing of the fucking weapon around like goddamn piñata. How I suppose to shift? Crazy kid lose head up his ass!" Uri hit the gas bringing the car to a rumbling haul and forced open the gas guzzling headers for extra scream.

A red blur passed under the turning chopper and as it did so the pilot felt the chopper lean to the side like some weight just attached itself, but then a fist pierced through the floor panel behind him. The pilot looked back and asked the few guys he was carrying, "What the hell was that!?" Then the chopper tilted again as if something landed on the other side and the shift was immediately followed up with a hand coming through the bullet proof sliding door and pulling it off the bird without any hint of struggle. "Jesus Christ! Shoot him!"

Ryouga flew in with a hand around each throat of the other two crew members and promptly tossed them out on the highway below. The pilot was about to make a mayday call, but a pair of hands grabbed both sides of his helmet and snapped it in half right off his head. Then after the helmet was discarded a hand grabbed the front of his suit and pulled him face to face with the guy pulling his bird apart. "Now listen up pecker head you have two choices, the first choice is to fly this thing where I tell you too and the second choice is for me to crash it with you tied to the seat. Make your choice."

After a moments stun, the pilot straightened the chopper out and asked, "Where ya heading?"

Jasper could feel them coming at him, it was that turning in his gut that he'd fine tuned over the years so well, but he had an ace in the hole. He had connections like no one else and had friends all around just waiting for the word. He took out his radio again and flipped it to a special channel wit his teeth. "You there, Rollins?"

"Yeah, what do you need sir?"

"I've got a tail and a pretty volatile one at that. I want those gates open and I want all my boys to get onto Davey Street and escort me there."

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them. Don't under estimate the guys chasing me, they've got a shit load of luck on their side."

"Consider it done sir."

In no less then thirty seconds Jasper had guys on motorcycles and cars turning out of allies and coming close to him forming a wall behind him. More and more came out with each passing moment making a convoy of suits and professional looking bodyguards taking up almost both sides of the road. In minutes he had an army of thugs with enough money in their pockets to get reckless with their lives. However all coins have two sides and on Ranma's side he had his own army, he just didn't realize it.

The helicopter and its hostage pilot came in fast over Jasper's crowd and shined the piercing light on them. It then came in low to the streets and the mounted gun started firing into the streets. "Good, keep it up. I don't know who are bad guys in that crowd, but the more we delay them from getting to the airport the better." The pilot nodded in a fearful shame of what he was doing, but then again the guy beside him could probably saw his skull in half with nothing more then his own anus to do it. So the pattern went on with the chopper dipping in between the buildings to cut off the convoy, but it quickly started getting dangerous with so many of them having guns with free use of ammo. One round came right through the front window and took off a patch of Ryouga's hair, but he was on fire and like a stone at the same time. Full of energy and yet unwavering. Then by a stroke of luck with a stray glance he saw a familiar guy on a motorbike, followed by an equally familiar car.

Uri rolled down his window and shouted at Ranma ahead of him. "Let me go first, I clear way." Ranma nodded in response and watched Uri take off at a breakneck speed, to which he followed keeping his body low and tight to the bike. Like a warhead through a haystack, Uri pushed the car through the crowd taking time to knock over guys on motorbikes and send cars spinning with a well-placed nudge to the back corner. They were quickly making their way through to the front, but someone must have got smart. A bunch of the guys in suits up front either stopped their cars, or veered off to the side leaving a straight pathway towards Jasper who was now maybe about fifty feet away from the open gate of the airport. The only thing between Ranma, Uri and Jasper were a ton of broken beer bottles all over the road. Uri braked hard, but it was too late and he'd been going too fast. The sound of four tires almost simultaneously exploding sent the car turning and twisting dangerously, until the rim of a wheel caught the ground just long enough to send the car into a barrel roll.

Ranma's luck wasn't any better either, his tires popped and he was forced to go down on one side along the green and brown line of sharp alcoholic teeth and let them bite savagely into his side and legs. One side of mind told his of a writhing unspeakable pain while the other side told him he needed to get through that gate no matter what, but no measure of talent could get him up and ahead of Uri who was spinning uncontrollably sideways and through the air. Just outlandishly dumb luck was on his side.

Just as the carpet of broken glass ended Ranma unintentionally pulled the throttle back on his bike and since it was on its side the back wheel grabbed the roughly paved street with whatever grip it had left and spun the bike around. Like a rock from a sling Ranma was thrown off at seventy miles an hour and sent skidding and rolling across the ground like a rag doll under the wheels of a truck. By shear fluke he had rolled and soared underneath the saber just as it picked up into the air for another spin. His shoulder hit the ground as he passed underneath the saber and changed his tumble from being side to side to being head to toes over and over again. When he'd finally lost his speed he was sitting on his ass with his legs almost straight in front of him feeling like his spine had just been put through a man sized mouse trap a few times. As he sat looking dumb and dazed the saber completed its roll by landing on its side and having the hood and trunk smash against both sides of the steel gate of the airport bending it to the breaking point just slightly over Ranma's head and leaving a bullet proof barrier where its opening once was.

Ryouga watched the events unfold beneath him and saw the thugs heading towards the gate to do only god knows what with the wreckage. Without looking at the pilot he just yelled, "Now get out of here!" and jumped out onto the street that would have been a dangerous distance below for anyone normal. As his feet touched the cold street stood in front of the gate with his back to the car and facing towards the oncoming bikes and cars. Slowly and almost rhythmically he took in a deep breath of air and brought a tight fist back like a leering cobra. Then he brought his fist down towards the solid gray slab that stretched for miles and hit it with everything he had. Like an exploding fire the road ahead of him started cracking, twisting, and contorting in wild unimaginable angles. The earth split apart like skin peeling open in a feeble attempt to contain too much blood. Mounds of dirt shot up from the cracks like fireworks in the dark sending men flying off their bikes and cars flipping to their roofs and he stood their watching what his fist had just done with cold air of determined fighting spirit, someone stood beside him.

"Long time no see." Ryouga's head shot around and looked intently into the familiar face of Mousse. He was sharpening a blade he once had hidden up his sleeve and said, "I've never really liked guns…"

Then beside Mousse came Shampoo from out of nowhere brushing her wild hair out of her face. "I've had enough of this…"

Ryouga's eyes went wide and he almost stuttered with, "Where have you guys been!? I haven't seen you in ages!"

Cologne's voice came from behind him and the familiar sound of that walking stick tapping the ground as she hopped on it resounded in his ears. "Amazons don't run away from a fight child, and I do believe this is a fight."

Ryouga was beginning to feel small in the crowd and he was forced to turn again to two middle aged men walking towards him. Soun Tendo rubbed his temples as he walked towards the building crowd and said, "It's been too long since I've been this sober… How could I let my family stay here like this Saotome?"

Genma nodded thoughtfully whilst walking beside him. "I believe we've all been a little off lately Tendo. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind having the old days back."

"Hah! Big talk from a talent less disciple like you! You stand here letting your own son fight the big fight while you stay behind and deal with the small fry." Happosia scoffed and cackled as he spoke, but Kuno of all people cut him off.

"Hark! True words pierce thy soul. However may I ask then why you stand here with us as well?" Kuno took out his old wooden sword from those few years ago and pointed it at the destroyed road with growing numbers of men in now dirty suits. "A battle brews! Watch as the naves pull themselves up from their disgrace!"

Out of the shadows behind Kuno popped a piercing laugh that belonged to his delusional sister. "I won't let any of these dirty peasants lay a finger on my dearest Ranma!"

"Well spoken my lady! Well spoken!" Exclaimed Kodachi's gnomish little ninja bodyguard Sasuke.

The last person to show up was Ukyo who landed right beside Ryouga. "Hi sugar. They told me what was going on and brought me here after you left to go onto the roof. We've got to buy Ranma time to get that bastard don't you think darlin'?"

Ryouga nodded at her thanking god someone was here that didn't make him nervous. "Are you sure you want to be here? It's dangerous…"

She pulled out her comical weapon of choice and looked at the crowd of angry suits coming towards them. "I was in a coma for a long time sugar… They took my life away and played with you, I know you didn't mean it, I know it was tough times… But now I want revenge sugar…"

Ryouga just nodded in understanding and looked at the men coming towards them with an open mind for a street war. There was a hell of a lot of those guys and more and more were pouring out of alleys and buildings from left right and center. Things were heating up quick and now people were picking up weapons from the streets and dumpsters that early cavemen probably used to bash each other skulls in back in the Stone Age. Some real Fred Flintstone shit was happening, but at the same time a lot of guys were packing heat and ready to use it. Ryouga spotted this and said almost obviously, "Some of these guys still got guns…"

Then a voice he'd never heard before spoke to him coming out of a minivan still moving slowly towards him from a back alley. "You guys with Ranma?" A retro looking man with a Hawaiian blue shirt on got out of the van and said, "I take it he's going to go kill that two timing fuck stick Jasper?" Ryouga nodded without thinking and that's when retro man Tommy Vercetti whacked his hand against the side of the van. "These are the guys boys. Get your shit together and get out here!" The sliding door of the van opened up and at least thirty camped looking Cuban guys all wearing loud flamboyant shirt poured out into the street and all of them were loaded with various Uzi's, magnums, pea shooters, hand cannons, and heavy duty assault rifles and as if he were a cherry on some big ass chocolate cake, Uri finally managed to kick the drivers side door of the car open and the first thing to pop out of the top of this twisted vehicle was a giant ass rotating, death dealing, fire spitting minigun.

Uri was bleeding bad but he was looking vicious like he never had before and he pointed that gun at the wave of dusty black suits and yelled in his thick Russian accent. "You want rumble!? Let's rock!" The spit flying from his mouth as he screamed seemed to be the catalyst to start the event off with both sides running at each other like an armies charging. Two gangs clashed, one was the undermanned Nerima demolition squad that made up for its lack of numbers with shear destructive force, while the other one held its power with what seemed to be an endless stream of hired men popping out from everywhere all at once. Fists tightened and barrels cocked, Nerima's last stand to take back what was once theirs.

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Bif Naked - Twitch: I know. I'm taking forever to update.)


	34. Peace Sells

Peace Sells  
(Megadeath – Peace Sells)

As Ranma sat there he wondered many strange things, such as 'How come I can't hear anything?' and 'Why can't I feel my toes anymore?' but probably the most piercing question to him was 'How in the name of fuck am I still alive?' He shook his head, but a strange irritating ringing was pulsing inside his skull and to top it off when he shook his head again he felt water running along his back, but after the obscene head rush hit him along with the strangely pleasant aroma of gasoline drifted up his nostrils he started to feel really sick. Sticky almost and inside his stomach he felt as though he had ten pounds of dried cement sitting there and desperately trying to exit through his mouth. He dry heaved a few times and started crawling away from where ever he was this time. He thought back trying to remember anything that may have made any sense in the last few seconds before the tornado of pain took its toll on him. All he could come up with was that he'd hit the back of his head on the pavement a bunch of times and the same went for all sides really. It came back to him slowly, but the damn ringing in his ears was starting to get to him and really turning up the volume on the killer headache he'd seemed to have ever since he came back to Nerima.

A few moments went by that he found it hard to crawl forward because his body couldn't seem to make up its mind on which way it wanted to stray off to, but then he noticed a hand on his shoulder shaking him and connected to it was a head shouting at him. A plump man with a simple mustache seemed to be mouthing the words 'Are you alright?' Absently Ranma nodded yes in an automatic response, but the truth was that he was anything but all right. He'd been noticing little things like not being able to curl his finger and such and up until now he'd been passing it off as nothing, but as he turned his arms over for a look his eyes shot wide into a horrid stare at all of the broken glass imbedded in his forearms. Tendons and veins had been cut and unless he had this bandaged up soon he was going to bleed to death on the spot. Suddenly as if looking at the open wounds was the key to the chest containing the feeling of hot pain, he started feeling it and it made him cringe. Before he knew what was properly happening he felt himself pushed onto his back and his head sinking into a pillow made out of a dirty shirt.

The ringing in his ears started to fade away and faintly he heard gunshots and all the like around him kind of like one of those Viet-Nam flash backs you see and hear in movies, but he wasn't in the jungles of Cambodia he knew that much. He shook his head again, he was spacing out and at this critical moment in his life, or the preservation of it, he felt some natural instinct deep in his gut telling him that spacing out right now would just mean he'd die sooner. However as it turned out he was getting a reality check whether he liked it or not. The smooth yet gravely feel of razor sharp edges tearing through his flesh forced a cry out of him and the large hand of a plump man with a mustache stuck the meaty part of his hand into Ranma's mouth and Ranma bit it hard, but the man never flinched. "I know it hurts, but they gotta come out." The man was quick about it and didn't monkey around when pulling the glass out of Ranma's arms and legs, but with each sliding spike leaving his slashed body he bit down harder and harder until he tasted blood, but still the plump man never spoke a word of protest.

When every last piece of glass was pulled out of his body Ranma finally relaxed his jaw and was on the verge of passing out. A tapping slap touched his cheeks and he opened his eyes and looked hard at the man with the mustache. "Listen up young man, if you fall asleep now it's all over for you, you hear me sonny!?" Ranma nodded and the man started taking off his blue overalls. "I don't got nothing cleaner to patch you up with right now, but this'll have to do." Even though his eyes were open, Ranma couldn't see anything, or maybe he was currently living one second behind his conscious thought and just couldn't recall anything at this moment. It felt terrible, but he could feel his arms being wrapped with torn strips and that was all the verification he needed to know that he was still somewhat alive. In this moment the world seemed to finally slow down a little and in turn his thoughts and memories were starting to catch up with him. He started to remember chasing Jasper and everything going wrong in almost an instant, but the fuzziness was still there looming over his mind. All sense of time had escaped him and he no longer knew if it was the same day, or if another had passed. Had months passed? Or was it only hours and minutes? Another light smack on the side of his face brought him back to the present moment and he heard that deep elderly voice with the slight European accent again. "Hey! Talk to me boy. Say something!"

Ranma's eyes unrolled and he started focusing again. Hearing the man's words he said the only thing he could think of. "Where's Jasper?" His had had lifted as he spoke and it fell back against the crude pillow made for him when he finished.

"Who?" The old plump man asked. "Are you talking about that man that came bursting through the gates like a bat out of hell?"

"How long?" Ranma asked feebly with his eyes closed.

The old man looked momentarily confused and asked, "Until what?"

Ranma let out a groan and asked again, "How long ago was that? How long have I been out for?"

The old man laughed and tied a knot in the makeshift bandage. "Ha! Not long at all, I don't think you were actually 'out' per say, just dazed I think. You've got a sturdy back and head to match boy. I say we need a few more youngsters like you around, my grandson's just a lazy bump sitting in front of the computer machine all day long talking in line with all those electronic women. Blasphemy if you ask me!"

Ranma had pushed himself into a sitting position as the old man had got on his rant and he was now attempting to use his legs. "Hikori once told me that all great discoveries were once great blasphemies, but I always thought he was a long winded jerk."

"Hey! Sit back down sonny! You're lucky to be alive, now don't go ruining it! Once they get all that shit out of the way the ambulance will be able to drive in here and take you to the hospital." The old man put his hands on Ranma's shoulders and pushed him back down.

A twang of pain circulated through his body but he pushed himself up again, "I've got a job to do old man. The guy you saw riding in here before me was Jasper Garino."

"Never heard the name in my life. Why's he so important that you got to go to him?" The old man stood over Ranma with a stern look and expected a damn good answer.

"He's the reason this town's gone to hell. The reason you see drugs on the street and kids dropping out of school. I gotta get him…" Ranma looked down realizing that he should have added, 'I'd like to thank the academy', after that stupid sentence.

The old man crossed his arms and just kept looking down. "You a cop sonny?" Ranma shook his head truthfully, there was no point in lying about it, the old man was smart and he'd just saved his life. "I didn't think so boy. You're in no shape to be playing hero games, you understand? I knew something was bad about that man as soon as I saw him fly through the gate like that, but I'm sure that the police will catch him when the time comes."

Ranma shook his head and looked down between his knees. "I can't wait that long…"

"And why not?"

Ranma kept looking down and spoke softly. "That Jasper guy has bought the police… Besides he killed someone I loved… and destroyed the lives of everyone around me… and made me run away and turn my back on everything I stood for…"

The old man's eyes became soft but his mustached face remained stern. "You want revenge, is that it?" His voice challenged Ranma to convince him that running off was a good idea, but he wasn't quite prepared for what Ranma said next.

"No…" Ranma's eyes stayed down and he words remained soft. "I want to make it up to them… I want to make things right…" Ranma looked up at him with eyes that begged for mercy. "I begging you sir… just let me stand up and fight for something worth fighting for again. Lately I've been spending all my time with petty theft and stupid shit that should have all been avoided. When I came back here I found out that my ex-fiancé was missing, I found one her sister's dancing on a pole, and the other with bruises on her face from a drunken father I could not remember ever seeing in that light. I watched my own father trying to pick up prostitutes while my mother sat at home crying like you wouldn't believe. I later found my best friend in a man made coma and finally the last slap in my face was when Jasper forced Ryouga into shooting my pregnant girlfriend in the head and then emptying the rest of the bullets into me… I am twenty-four years old and I am losing my fucking mind. Please… For the love of god, let me stand up and finish this!"

A very long moment passed by as the old man stared down at Ranma, but when it ended the old man reached his hand down and pulled Ranma too his feet with one strong heave. The two stared at each other long and hard until the old man finally said, "I suppose I can't talk you out of this…" Another silence passed and the man reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a key. "That man went into the hangar at the end of the runway, if we hurry then we should be able to catch up with him."

Ranma looked at him funny and asked, "We?"

"You're damn right sonny. Nobody can ride my hog like I can, besides I told you, we need more guys like you in the world and I still stand by my words. Now come on, I may be an dusty old mechanic, but I know when a man has something in need of being done that he should do it himself if he wants it done right. You look a little worse for wear though, are you sure you want to be going like this?"

Ranma shook his head, "Don't make me say it again sir…"

The old man walked over and pulled a large cover off of one of the most beautiful Harley's any man had ever seen. The mixture of black and chrome blended almost majestically across all the curves making beauty look like a tight embrace. The mechanic put his key in the ignition and like a true man would he kick started the black beast with one authorities strike. "Let's go sonny, I'm not one for fightin' but I can sure as hell drive you there."

The man's raw vitality felt as though it was rubbing off on him and all in one fluent motion Ranma swung a leg over the seat and held on. "I'm ready." The Harley lurched forward and turned out of the hangar and for a brief moment Ranma could have sworn that he saw a steady stream of blazing fire shoot out of the exhaust. "Nice bike sir."

The back tire peeled rubber like nothing else he'd ever seen and the top speed was rapidly ascending to a blissful, hair whitening, utterly unprotected two hundred miles an hour. The thing was modified with such an air of disregarded safety that Ranma couldn't help but smile as the speedometer twisted so far that it actually fell off the spring and dangled pathetically in a hopeless defeat with keeping up with the mind blowing speed. This guy was a really good mechanic and since he worked at an airport he must have stolen and pinched parts in his spare time.

A long metallic nose was coming out of an open hanger at the end of the runway and the old mechanic pointed taking one set of white knuckles off the high handlebars. "That's the plane, what do you have in mind?"

Without even answering Ranma had looked at the personal jet for only a brief moment and had already pulled the last gun he had out of his pants, amazed that the thing, hadn't gone off with all his rolling around, and tried to fire it but his hands, he couldn't move his fingers and he couldn't figure out if it was because they were too stiff or too loose. As the personal jet kept pulling out Ranma spied the engines on each wing and suddenly realized that even a fleshy bird could break those titanium blades spinning at high speed, so he threw his gun with perfect aim and before anyone knew it the plane was no longer good for take off. The engine on the right side of the plane had burst into broken pieces and fire in less than an instant and after a few moments the plane was rolling back into the hanger.

The hog came to a grinding halt and Ranma slid off the back and started lumbering to the open bay doors with a terrible limp and a bad case of foot drag. He'd lost his weapon in order to halt the plane, but he'd figured that at this point it no longer mattered if he were to be shot again, because chances were that he just wouldn't feel it anymore. He'd already lost too much blood as it was and he was feeling cold all over, he was dying as he walked he knew that much, but he didn't know how long he could last. It was the long road to Jasper that had worn him down to such a decrepit state, but somehow he was still going, pushing forward with what ever was left of him. It wasn't long until he got around to the side of the plane that he saw the hatch was already open and only seconds later realized that Jasper and his pilot had already left the craft and waited in ambush. A shot rang out, but just before he'd heard it he was already spinning from impact. He'd been clipped in the shoulder and it was now that Ranma realized his theory was in fact true. He barely felt the bullet slide through his body, but the force of physics didn't allow his to remain standing. He was down and dazed, but it didn't mean the shooter was done with him. Another shot exploded from the barrel, but the aim was off and the high-pitched echo of a bullet ricocheting off of smooth cement resounded right next to Ranma's head. The third shot was on its way, but before the man could deliver the final shot a recently found friend had decided to drop in and bring his good friend Mr. big red pipe wrench.

The cracking sound of the wrist sounded remarkably like ice breaking on a frozen lake and with that the pilot Rollins was turning away cradling his arm. "You fuck!" Rollins spun around quick and struck the old mechanic hard across the face with his good hand, but now the laws of physics seemed to stop working. The large old man stood there with his head barely turned from the savage strike. "What's with you…?" Rollins asked in astonishment. He was answered with a single pounding fury into his gut and he went to his knees.

The old mechanic with the killer mustache pointed to Ranma and said, "Go on sonny, I'll deal with this guy." Ranma nodded and staggered up to his feet and started moving as fast as he could towards a small door in the back that had been left open. As the old man watched Ranma run off he looked back down too late to see a knife coming up at him. He maneuvered his bulky figure, but just not fast enough. A long deep line starting at his hip had made its way up almost all the way up his torso and just below his neck. I hurt but it didn't feel fatal, so the old man lunged at Rollins with his heavy fist again and knocked his back forcing Rollins to try and maintain his footing. He followed him as best he could and started pushing Rollins towards the hull of the plane. He let out a cry of pain as his back crunched against the metallic surface, but it didn't mean he didn't know how to fight himself. Rollins brought his forehead down and connected solidly with the old man's nose hearing that satisfying crunch. The old man staggered back himself but his pushed himself forward and used his large hands to cover Rollins's throat. The old man's eyes seemed to flash in the light of the overhead fluorescents overhead but he brought his face close to Rollins and spoke coldly, "Back in Germany we are famous for two things. The first is our ability to drink beer gallons at a time, and the second is our amazing ability to thoroughly tan any ones hide that gets in our way. It would be wise of you sonny that you give up before I get nasty."

Rollins ignored the speech and brought his hand up again with the knife aiming for the throat, but to his disbelief the old man just removed a single hand from his throat and blocked the bladed weapon with his forearm. It had sunk in deep but the mechanic hadn't even flinched. "This was a very big mistake on your part…" And with one mighty heave the old man picked up Rollins by the throat and threw him head first into the remaining jet engine. Rollins didn't actually go through, well not all of him anyways, but the engine was dying down and if the plane hadn't been fucked before, then now it was seriously screwed, but at least it now had a crimson racing stripe going down one side.

Ranma made it to the fire exit door only to have it slammed in his face as he ran halfway through it. He almost fell back, but the sight of Jasper's back filled his vision and he had to run. So close he'd come all night, but now as the morning approached with first light only little less then an hour away he pushed and pushed like he never had before. He started wondering how the hell he was going to fight Jasper, because at this point he had about half an arm that, using the term loosely, worked properly. Fuck it, he'd elbow that guy to death it he had to, his teeth were all there… well he was fairly sure they were all there he hadn't exactly checked as of late, but as he ran or stumbled or whatever he could come close to as being fast he could feel and hear a clicking at the front of his mouth so he was fairly sure. He'd take those teeth a peel off Jasper's flesh agonizingly slow if that's what it took. For a moment he focused his eyes to look past Jasper and saw that they were heading to a warehouse on the airfield that Mr. Garino must have been acquainted with. A moment later Jasper had a set of keys in his hands and he was through a door in no time, Ranma wasn't far behind him and if it was because of some hidden strength, or some sort of animal instinct Ranma came at the door which was probably locked by now and came at it with his forehead and knocked it right off the hinges.

He started yelling something out loud, but what exactly it was became lost to him in his hotheaded tantrum. There were boxes and crates everywhere in the wide-open space of the warehouse and without much thought Ranma started parading around shouting Jasper's names and not even thinking about an ambush in wait. Ranma wished he'd look up earlier, not at the high roof, but up at the corner office close to a high wooden stairwell because there was Jasper taking aim with the hook connected to the overhead crane. The sound of the chains being released from high up told Ranma of the hook coming at him, but all he was able to do was turn around in time get the broad side of the hook right against the side of his head. He went down to his knees holding his head trying to get rid of the feeling of his eyes being squeezed out of his skull. Then something long and solid was struck across his back and forced him to his stomach. Jasper came down again and again with the metallic rod leaving no room for mercy in its path. Every bone in his body vibrated and threatened to break with each strike, leaving Ranma's vision growing dark and with the coming dark he could feel the pain less and less. Something in his mind didn't allow him to stay down for too long and with what must have been an extreme burst of adrenaline brought his hand up and snatched the rod out of Jasper's hands. Moments of his life started etching themselves out of his memory, probably because he kept slipping in and out of consciousness, but what was certain was that he was ferociously striking Jasper's torso and driving him back.

A surprise came when Jasper managed to duck around a corner and with some quick thinking mixed with a moment of great opportunity, Jasper had found a gas can and as it just so happened he was a smoker. Pulling a piece from his already badly tethered shirt, he soaked in some fuel and stuck it in the open end. Reflexes saved Ranma just as he turned to corner and narrowly missed the gas can coming at him, but just behind him a burst of flames scattered faster then ants across the stacked wooden crates that made the labyrinth within the storehouse. In no time the place started filling up with smoke clouding their lungs and forcing the harsh task of coughing with a dry rasp. Even as Ranma was momentarily blinded he felt Jasper tackle him on his side, but while placing a hand on his shirt and another on his belt. Ranma felt himself heaved Jasper's shoulders and onto a crate back first. Though the crate did not break Jasper saw this as an opportunity to start coming down hard and repeatedly with his elbows. Something was knocked out of place though Ranma couldn't say just what it was but he found the moment of reversal, knocked Jasper back, pushed him to the ground and started kicking him with everything he had, which wasn't much anymore. Things started playing out like a wrestling match with one going down as the other beat on him only to be punctuated with a moment of glory as the other got up and started his assault until there they both stood facing each other and gasping like they had left their lungs someplace other then their own body.

Jasper was looking like hell with bruises and cuts, but so far he'd proved to be no stranger to pain, while Ranma on the other hand stilled looked decades worse then him. He could beat Ryouga in a full-blown street fight, so why was he having such a problem knocking this jokers head off with his bare fists. He'd been hitting him as hard as he could all this time but for some reason Jasper just kept getting up just as he had in return. Then Jasper said something to him that made Ranma think. "You know what the problem with guys like us is?" After getting no response from Ranma he just continued. "We just don't know how to drop dead and give up." Ranma rolled this around for a moment and realized just how true it was. He didn't know how not to win so he just kept getting up again and again every time Jasper knocked him down, and it was probably the same for Jasper. In this moment he remembered being shot all those times in the chest by Ryouga and only ever giving up when he decided he'd been finished. It wasn't until he laid face down in the mud and saw no way out of deaths grip that he accepted it and laid peacefully down without objection. Suddenly his entire life started making sense and little did Jasper know was with that one line which must have been nothing more then an action to delay Ranma and catch his breath, he'd just sighed his death warrant. Jasper always saw a way out, so like Ranma he kept going until he got away, that's how he'd survived all this time.

A cruel smile spread over Ranma's lips as he now knew exactly what to do, he had to hit Jasper with everything he had and hit him so hard that no path of escape would present itself. He had to force Jasper to lay down an accept death, but the only problem was that Ranma didn't know if he still had it in him. He'd tried it with Ryouga and had to cheat to win, but this time there was something pecking at the back of his head and trying to get free. It was an idea that he just couldn't see just yet, so instead he just rushed at Jasper, grabbed his head and slammed it against a crate and the scuffle continued.

It was becoming a boarder line slap off between the two with Ranma winding up and clocking Jasper one, staggered to stay to on his feet and then Jasper would return the single grueling punch. One particular hit sent Ranma to the ground and he had to lay their for a moment to catch his breath and find his conscious thoughts again and in this moment he found himself staring at a fire coming at him slowly. He'd get up in time it was no real threat at the moment, but he rolled over and saw all around him that damn near everything was on fire now. He couldn't remember just how long he'd been here now, but suddenly he blinked in realization. The idea that had been in the back of his head until now seemed to crawl out his ear with all the blood and wave at him. He knew he couldn't keep a cool head long enough for what he had planned, but all around him was heat, smoke and fire. It was all artificial, but god damn it could work.

Ranma snapped up into a sitting position just in time to grab Jaspers leg and throw him off balance. They were both on their feet again in no time, but this time Ranma was locked in thought, only half watching Jasper. He kept rolling the idea around in his head and realized that it made too much simple sense to not be right. It was the spiral he had to make, but this time with heat instead of cold. All he had to do was be on the receiving end of it, and with that much heat everything thing including both of them would go up, but Ranma would anticipate the going down and that's when the final blow would be delivered. It all depended on how he could manipulate Jasper's movements and without wasting time he started. He started pushing Jasper back with fast punches and kept turning him slightly with well placed strikes. Without even knowing it Jasper was about to perform the Rising Dragon Hurricane using Ranma's ki. The same move that gave him his nickname back in Kyoto when he leveled a building by accident. The Kyoto Hurricane has come home and was about to leave his mark.

Jasper back stepped the unfamiliar spiral with Ranma's guided strikes and just as he entered the center Ranma leaned in and screamed into Jasper's face. "Hit me ya pussy!" Without thinking Jasper delivered the best he could and was surprised to feel the air around him start to twist with stretched flames circling around them. He couldn't believed it worked so well and as he raised into the air he grabbed Jasper's arm and yelled, "Yer coming with me!" He'd used and felt the technique so many times that the sudden thought of using his own heat to rise only seemed logical now, besides for some reason no matter how many times his hit Jasper the guy never seemed to become exceedingly angry or annoyed, he in fact gave off an air of doing something tedious but needed to be done simply for the hell of it. Jasper's constant cool of all situations was now becoming his ultimate downfall.

From the streets outside the gang war halted long enough for all those still conscious and breathing to see a whirlwind of glowing fire shooting up into the sky. You didn't have to be able to hone your senses and be one with nature to feel the high-energy output of this coming storm. It raised itself high spinning faster and faster the longer they all looked along with expanding and retracting in pulsing waves. Though it was distant, two tiny dark figures ascended upwards through the eye of the storm one clearly leading a struggling other. Spooked at what they saw most of Jasper's men started stepping back cautiously which then turned into a full blown sprint in the other direction. Faster and faster as in response to the speed of the hurricane, their numbers dwindled until it was just the bloodied home team standing in watch. In a moment of heated excitement Genma suddenly felt a wave of pride run through his body, something he'd been missing for a long time suddenly brought to life as he watched the hurricane grow larger. A quick glance around told him that everyone else was feeling the same thing he was feeling. The old days when martial arts were everything and the bad guys were nothing. Losing himself in the moment he pointed up at the hurricane and shouted, "That's how it's done! That's old school!" Feeling no embarrassment for his outburst he watched almost gleefully with the others, as his son suddenly became that crazy martial artist again.

Cologne turned her back on the storm and started hopping away, "Come we must be going now. He will require our aid in escaping once the police arrive. I can already see a helicopter in the distance…" She turned and pointed at Ryouga, and Akane. "You two go there and pick him up and then we'll all meet up at the hiding place." Everyone nodded without quarrel and without another word they all broke off into different directions.

Tommy Vercetti on the other hand collected his guys and started packing them back into the van, now riddled with bullet holes, and paid little attention to their injuries. Some groaned but Tommy showed no sympathy. "Well, don't get shot next time."

One man groaned again and squeezed out, "Why Tommy, why? Why did you insist on flamboyant shirts over flack jackets?"

"Because any guy can go out and shoot people while protected, but when you put a fruity pink shirt on them with Hawaiian print and an AK in their hands, that's a mind game and the mind game strikes fear into their heads."

"I don't want to be in a gang anymore…"

The top of the whirlwind had finally been reached and it was now time for Ranma to try something new. He focused that inner strength of his as hard as he could and the fire within the storm started collecting close to him until the entirety of the storm had condensed and swirled with a frantic fury around his fist as if it just desperately wanted to explode away in every direction. With a moment of unreal control Ranma grabbed Jasper's neck with one hand forced his fiery hand forward. As the fist came it seemed to slow just in front of Jasper's face and as soon as a white burst of air in front on the fist flashed it was gone and the strike came at him faster then he could properly seen. With one swing Ranma's fist had broken the sound barrier several times over and they were now both plummeting towards the hard rocky ground at over six hundred miles per hour with Ranma's fist firmly planted in Jasper's face. The strike alone must have killed Jasper, no normal man could survive it, but just in case he had as they both hit the ground the earth around them broke and sunk with Jasper and that condensed ball of whirling fire suddenly burst out into a perfect 360 degree circle around them that hugged the ground as best it could shooting rushing jets of blazing fire right from the center where Jasper had landed. The shear force of the blast lifted Ranma a second time into the air but not nearly as far this time. About ten feet he flew up and came down just as the flames died down and he landed on the blackened concrete of the airport. He laid there for what felt a long time just staring up at the fading stars and looking at the coming sunrise just behind the mountains off in the distance. Suddenly things started feeling better for him, or maybe every nerve in his body just got tired and decided to take a well-deserved break. After a while he heard his name called by a familiar voice and he started feeling happy, he didn't really want he to be here, but at the same time he did. He raised his hand to signal that he was in fact still alive and within seconds two people were standing over him. "Hi."

Ryouga looked at him dumbfounded, clearly shocked at what he saw and said flatly, "Oh my god… You need a doctor…"

"It can't be that bad… Sure I should have stretched or something before I pulled that move, but I'll be ok as long as I get a full body blood transfusion and about twenty five years of mental help." Ranma said in a horse raspy voice.

Akane shook her head and looked at though she wanted to cry. "You're burnt so badly… You must be in so much pain…"

Ranma tried to smile, but his face didn't seem to want to. "Can't be that bad."

Both Akane and Ryouga looked at each other in fear and it was Ryouga that spoke. "Ranma…" He bit his lips and didn't know how to say it, so he just said it as plainly as he could. "Half your face is missing and I think you've lost an eye… The lid could just be burnt shut, but I honestly can't tell…"

Ranma exhaled slowly as he took in this information and looked at Akane. "Guess I'm lucky I don't feel a damn thing." This time he got the less burnt side of his face to crack a half smile and with that Akane almost broke down at the pathetic display of Ranma trying to be brave for her.

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(Megadeath – Peace Sells: Apologies for taking my time as well as spelling error's I don't seem to have time to fix anymore. Coming close to the end, but what about Bugsy and Nabiki?)


End file.
